


Coffee to Cryptology

by foghoorn



Series: Standard to Sleuth [MCU] [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Loss of Virginity, Oral Sex, Secret Agent, Sexual Assault, Slow Burn, Vaginal Sex, a lot happens grip your boots lads, bad habits, most avengers are single and young, slightly canon to the avengers films, smoking as a coping mechanism, whoopsies i write too many stories at once
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-05-02 04:05:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 27,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19191517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foghoorn/pseuds/foghoorn
Summary: Lori Wolfe has recently been accepted into an internship at SHIELD, which entails more than she'd ever thought. Her job quickly progresses from coffee runner to a member of the Avengers, as Nick Fury reveals a secret being kept from her all of her life. She becomes acquainted properly with her teammates, the Avengers. Are these relationships going to hold out in times of struggle or not? And what is that pesky brother of Thor's up to?





	1. Early Riser

**Author's Note:**

> I hope some people from Scars and Stings will come over to the fic as it's set in the MCU and a lot of Tom Hiddleston fans stemmed from his role as Loki. Enjoy the first chapter!

My alarm buzzed angrily as I felt myself stirring from my sleep. After a few days staying within Avengers Tower in light of my new internship, I still hadn't gotten used to the early hours and the horrific buzz of the alarm.

"Jarvis, switch off my alarm." I groaned.

"Miss Wolfe, I am only permitted to switch it off once you leave your bed." Jarvis replied.

I dragged myself out of bed, and heard the alarm stop, thanking myself for having an easy morning to get up in relation to the previous days. Although there was a dress code, many people who worked here did not abide by them, and no one really cared about that. I didn't take my chances this early into the internship. I opened my chest of drawers and pulled out a pair of charcoal trousers and a button-up blouse dotted with pictures of dogs. As I went to the en-suite to get ready, I picked up a matching blazer, and moved into the bathroom.

My room was situated on a floor somewhere in the middle of Avengers Tower, where all of the seemingly disposable and unimportant workers stayed, as we were at least 5 floors from the offices and 15 from where the Avengers stayed. I had gotten lucky, as my room was one of the few with a view of New York City. If I looked out, I could see the sea touching the city. I locked my door after myself, attaching my ID card to my front trouser pocket, and moved towards the communal kitchen at the end of the floor. At this time of day, it was the busiest, as every colleague would eat breakfast before having to head to their work within the building. As I walked towards the coffee machine, I heard someone behind me call out my name.

"Lori!"

I turned around, and saw my fellow intern, and recently now friend, Markus run towards me. Markus was stationed in the reception, though. He smiled with a sweet disposition.

"Markus, how are you?" I said, starting the coffee machine.

"Great, even though after being an intern for just under a week I still can't get used to that early start." He chuckled.

I nodded and took my coffee from the coffee machine.

"That's why I'm running on this stuff, and it's not that bad for me anymore. I guess over time we'll get used to it."

Markus moved past me and started the coffee machine again.

"I guess I'll have one too, gotta have that caffeine to power you through the day." He patted me on the shoulder. "Though I never understand how you don't get enough of it, being a coffee runner."

I whispered, "The people here are pretty boring, I hope I get moved up to somewhere more interesting."

Markus laughed, took his coffee, and motioned for us to sit down at a table.

"Unsurprisingly, I've already met most of the Avengers. The reception can get absolutely wild. Remember my first day, where Thor..."

I cut him off. "Placed his hammer on your paperwork and you couldn't get to it, yep I've heard it a million times."

"I can't believe it, what are the chances." He laughed.

I'm glad I had Markus, who was funny, and could understand the struggles of being a new intern as he started at the same time as me. If I wanted to hang out, he'd be there at the tap of a call button, and after our first night, we went to the staff bar and drank the night away. During this period of drunk behaviour, I don't remember what happened, but Markus has told me that apparently I tried to tackle Steve Rogers whilst he stepped into the elevator on the ground floor, much to my disappointment, being tackled down by a security guard. Though I cannot guarantee that was true, as Markus was equally as drunk. I stared at my coffee. Since the day I'd gotten into here, I'd made myself a double shot latte with about two too many sugar cubes as the daily run for coffee for everyone was stressful. I'd also managed to break the coffee machine on the first day as in frustration I jammed the lid. I'm surprised I haven't been kicked out yet, I mean it seems like they're short for staff at the moment. I was shaken out of my daydream by someone walking through the doors loudly. I turned to see a woman with a long pixie cut and her pass proudly clipped on her jacket pocket, stating she was Level 4 staff. Of course she'd show that off, Level 4 staff were the highest ranks working in the offices directly with the Avengers, it took a long time to work up the ranks if you wanted a good job.

"I'm looking for," She glances at the note in her hand, "Larry Wolf?"

I chuckle a little as I realise she's calling for me, and get up to move towards her, looking back at Markus laughing a little too.

"That's me, Larry." I try to stifle my laughter.

She looks unimpressed, and turns back around to leave again. "Come with me please."

I follow her into the elevator, where she starts talking to me.

"They've moved you up to Level 26, they want you doing the coffee run there now."

I blink at her in disbelief. I'm working in the direct Avengers offices?

"But why? I only just joined, what's happened..." I trail off.

"Someone had to leave very, very quickly, let's say Fury had a massive problem with who they were. Unfortunately due to the staff shortages you were the one to move up, as we can quickly implement a new intern on floor 19, but not on floor 26 without previous experience and checks, so they had to move you."

I nodded, still in shock. "Do I need to move rooms already?" I asked cautiously.

"We're sending a security guard to collect your possessions and move them into your new room." She reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a Level 3 pass for me. "Your new room is room 487, floor 27. All rooms come with a built-in kitchen, but there is the option of ordering up food every mealtime. Just place your order through Jarvis or through the tablet provided in your room."

The elevator doors slide open, and the woman scans her pass, and I scan mine. The offices on floor 26 were spacious, with plenty of sofas dotted between the offices, and a large coffee corner, with a tablet over the machine, already full with coffee orders from around the office.

"You better get cracking, there are a lot of coffee-thirsty colleagues to satisfy already."

The woman walked away, leaving me to start running through the orders.

 


	2. No Coffee Break

After completing the first wave of coffees, mostly consisting of just straight-up coffee, to my relief, I placed the coffee cups on a tray and moved my way around the offices. On each cup I had written the recipient's name and office number. There were 50 offices on the floor, most of them occupied. I made my way to the first door, OF4. I knocked sharply.

"Philip Morse?"

The man sounded surprised, but replied quickly, "Leave it on the desk once you open the door."

I quickly placed the coffee down, and moved onto the next recipient, making quick work of the task and limited conversation. Once I got back to the coffee station, there were two people mingling nearby, repeatedly looking at the station. I walked over hesitantly and started on my next job. As I finished the coffee, the woman who was talking next to the station came over.

"You're new here, so let's make this quick. We need our coffee, hurry up. Also you do know there's a dispensary in the wall there to distribute it?" She sneered.

I felt a blush creep over my cheeks and nodded quickly in thanks before shoving the coffee I had prepared into the machine and briskly continuing, feeling the two people leave to their respective offices. The day progressed slowly but steadily, as I managed to get to grips with the new technology and norms of these offices. They had clearly been recently renovated, and Tony Stark had made sure the Avengers' direct contacts had the best possible space to work in. I was impressed with the technology, yet disappointed at the difference that a few levels make in the way staff are treated. Soon enough, it was after hours, and after a day of non-stop working from 8 til 5, I was exhausted. I quickly took the elevator up to the sleeping quarters, and took my first glimpse at my new room. 

The changes in quality of place counted towards my room too. Where my previous position had given me a room barely big enough to fit a single bed and a desk, and a small ensuite attached, this room was spacious. Again, the view was stunning, spanning over the NYC skyline. Directly in front of me was a spacious living/dining room, probably more suited for two or more people. The kitchen was basic, but looked brand new, with gleaming white countertops. The tablet that had been mentioned to me sat on the mantlepiece. On my left were two doors, one presumably leading to the bathroom and the other to the bedroom. I walked to the first door, opening it to find a large bath and shower, the bathroom fitted out in pristine white tiles. The shelves to the side of the bathroom were filled with a plethora of bath products, the strong scent of lavender already wafting through the room. I inhaled the scent deeply and moved to the last room. The bedroom was basic in palette, but contained a large king-sized bed and a vanity table. My possessions were stacked on the vanity, and I caught a glimpse of the closet already full of my clothing. I quickly threw on some lounge pants and a t-shirt before heading back into the living room to order food as I was too tired to make my way to the canteen.

The menu was ridiculously extensive, every cuisine from around the world, every type of food allergy and preference. My stomach growled loudly as I scrolled through the menu. When I got to the "fast food" section, I immediately clicked on the icon for pizza. Pizza sounded good after a long day's work. I quickly ordered the food through the tablet, and browsed for drinks. I found the alcohol section, and immediately ordered a large crate of beer and a bottle of vodka, and pre-ordered a large plate of greasy breakfast for the morning, just in case I was hungover. After checking out more functions of the tablet, to my delight I discovered a whole folder of coding apps, from Python to C++ to PHP. I made a mental note to dabble with some of them when I had free time. Jarvis piped up suddenly.

"Miss Wolfe, your food is on its way. ETA 5 mins."

"Thanks Jarvis."

I quickly pulled open my emails on the tablet, and checked for any important messages or commissions. I had recently started to offer my cryptography expertise for use within the security sector, both in decrypting files and providing secure encryptions for important data. I scrolled down a little, and saw an email with an intriguing title.

"help"

I clicked on it, curious of its contents, and read.

"lori,

help us, we need someone to decrypt these files, this is a matter of life or death.

commission price of $1 million or more once we get out.

please."

The lack of punctuation, bluntness, and prospect of an extremely large pay lead to me opening the files, as I plugged my USB into the tablet, and booted up my self-made decryption software. By far more powerful and successful than any other program, as I had made it to scan for every type of encryption pattern and function in every language and code and it had to this date a 100% success rate. I started to type out some code when Jarvis piped up again.

"Miss Wolfe, your meal is delayed, a physical person has been sent up to deal with the incident."

Shortly afterwards, I heard a sharp knock, and moved to the door. I opened it, and was tackled down by a medium-sized dog, suspiciously with pizza-like stains on its fur. I tried to move off of the floor to no avail, as the dog licked my face furiously.

"Lucky, down!" The man at the door shouted, pulling the dog back by the collar.

I brushed myself off and wiped my face of the slobber.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what got into him today, I was just leaving the building to take Lucky on a walk and they were delivering your food and he just ran for the pizza-"

"It's okay, I can re-order." I laughed, giving Lucky an affectionate pat.

"I'll make it back to you, do you want to go get a coffee tomorrow morning?" He offered.

I stumbled on my words. "Uh- sure? Maybe not coffee... I deal with enough of that already... being the coffee runner..."

His eyes lit up, "So you're the new intern! Man, I'm glad the old one is gone, we can't have ex-Hydra agents around in here, who knows how long the ex was there since he got kicked."

"I didn't hear that he was Hydra! Man, I've got some big evil shoes to fill then." I joked.

"Don't be evil, Fury doesn't like those kinda people!"

"I've never met the man, I don't know that." I tried to avoid eye contact as I smiled. "Uh, so where should we meet for tomorrow?"

The man wrote down something on a scrap piece of paper in his pocket quickly and handed it to me. 

"Meet me here and we'll decide what we want to eat."

I glanced down, and saw the time he had suggested.

"Uh, I can't do this time, I gotta work from 8 til 5. My lunch break is from 12 til 1.30 though, is 12 good?"

He grinned and nodded. "See you there!"

The man turned and left with his dog, leaving me standing in the doorway. As I glanced back at my paper, I realised I hadn't gotten his name. To my relief, he had also scrawled his number onto the note, and I quickly typed it into my phone and dropped him a text.

_I didn't get your name but you left your number? - L_

_Whoops, my bad. It's Clint Barton. Isn't it funny that you knew my dog's name before mine?_

_I mean, you don't really know mine either... - L_

_Lori Wolfe, I saw your order receipt, hence why I knew where to find you. Clever, isn't it?_

_I should probably get back to ordering some more pizza, sans dog. See ya tomorrow - L_

_Bye Lori, nice meeting you_

I quickly proceeded to order the pizza again, as my drinks arrived at the door. I guess it's a pizza and drunk night tonight, get myself mentally prepared for tomorrow.

 


	3. Lunch Break

I woke up, as expected, with a hungover. My head throbbed with a searing pain as I ran to the bathroom to be sick.

"Jarvis, what's the time?"

"It is currently 7.45."

I groaned loudly as I realised I only had fifteen minutes to get ready for work, and groaned again as I looked in the mirror and saw an absolute mess of a person. My medium brown hair stood up in every direction, as I was not-so-blessed with my family's wavy/curly hair genes. It was a mess to comb through, and some days I looked like I had been hit by lightning. My family has been gone for a long time. I don't remember my mother well enough, but I remember her glowing when she gave me away. Maybe it was a figment of my baby-sized imagination when I was only a few days old, but she gave me away. I stayed most of my life with my not-so-loving adoptive family, who basically only provided food and shelter, no more, so when I had the opportunity to leave, I did. Luckily, SHIELD was looking for interns, so I applied straightaway. That's how I ended up here.

I quickly threw on whatever outfit I could first find, just as my greasy breakfast as ordered the night before arrived. It mostly consisted of bacon and eggs, which I was grateful for. I gobbled it down before sprinting to my position at the coffee counter and already starting on the morning's orders. These orders mainly consisted of espresso and double shot coffees, seemed like everyone had a bad night. I was finishing off an order as I felt someone jump on me. I instinctively manoeuvred myself to throw them on the floor.

"Ow, Lori, that was uncalled for!"

I looked down and Markus was laying on the floor, muttering profanities in pain.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! It's a bit of an instinct!" I cried out, helping Markus back to his feet.

"You owe me a coffee now, dumbass," he joked as he brushed himself off, "Seeing as I'm here now for good."

"You got moved up too?" I asked.

"Yeah, they saw how much you were struggling with the workload and decided to shove me in the job too. Congrats, you mucked up real bad yesterday. Even the people on our old floor were talking about how embarrassing you were."

I put my palm to my forehead, and turned to finish off more orders.

"I hope you're staying close to me, I want more movie nights, I missed that last evening."

"I can already guess what you did, you look like shit, hungover?" Markus said.

I nodded and shoved the next order into the dispersion machine. Markus proceeded to start on orders too. After a while chatting, I found a good rhythm to work at, and Markus really did help make the job easier. Before I knew it, lunch break was starting.

"You coming to eat with me?" Markus asked as we walked to the elevator.

"Actually, no. I'm meeting someone." I replied quickly.

Markus smiled and nudged me jokingly. "Ooh, who is it? Use protection!"

I sighed, "Just a guy I met yesterday, his dog ate my pizza so he offered to take me out for lunch in repayment."

"Sounds exciting, what's his name?"

"Clint, he's cool. His dog's cool too, except for the pizza eating part." I thought about Clint's smile and smiled a little too.

"Clint? Not as in Clint Barton?" Markus sounded surprised.

"Uh, yeah it is him?" I was confused to how Markus knew his name.

"No way! You're going to lunch with an Avenger, good luck with that."

Suddenly, it struck me. I hadn't thought twice about what Clint was wearing, but looking back he was in his kit. I guess being ambushed by a pizza-loving dog made me oblivious. The elevator dinged, and Markus stepped out. 

"Go get him, Lori!" He shouted as the doors closed.

The elevator moved towards the ground floor, and opened into the main area. Clint was waiting there, Lucky's leash tightly in his hand, Lucky himself bouncing around. I immediately reached down to pat the dog.

"Lucky seems eager to get out." I laughed.

"Actually, he pretty much fell in love with you yesterday. He's excited to see you." Clint replied, moving out of the building. I followed suit.

"Where are we heading?" I asked inquisitively.

"You'll see when we get there." He smiled, as Lucky basically dragged him along the pavement.

We walked quietly for a minute, before I broke the silence.

"I didn't know you were an Avenger." I said quickly.

Clint seemed surprised. "I guess I don't get a lot of coverage, though I was wearing my kit yesterday, I'm surprised you didn't notice."

I laughed, "Well apparently I'm completely oblivious to a lot of things, according to my friend."

Clint smiled as if he was thinking about that, and replied. "Well yes, they're pretty right about that."

Clint suddenly stopped in front of a diner with a fuzzy, glowing sign on the outside, "Beaver Burgers".

"I figured since your pizza was a meatlovers, you'd eat a burger too. This is the best place in NYC, no jokes. I'll bet on that, $10 if you say that it's the best burger you've ever tried."

"The bet is on."

We got in, and were sat down in a small booth, and almost immediately a waitress came over with a bowl of water for Lucky.

"Hey Clint, who's the lovely girl with you today?" She asked.

"This is Lori, we have a bet that she'll have to give me $10 if she says the burgers are the best she's ever tasted, tell her she'll lose." 

The waitress laughed a little then warned me, "Trust me, everyone loses these bets. So I guess you'll be ordering two burgers? House special?"

Clint nodded and the waitress walked off, before long she had the burgers in her hands. As the dish was placed in front of me, my mouth started watering. I could see Clint smirking at me as I took a bite of the burger. As the food hit my mouth, I moaned a little.

"Manners, Lori." He laughed as he took a large mouthful of his burger.

I managed to complete the whole thing in record time, and fed Lucky a few fries while I was at it. Clint had also finished when I looked back up.

"And, was I right?" He asked, hoping for a good answer.

I sighed, knowing very well that he was right, and that I'd now have to give him my money. I quickly whipped out a tenner and pressed it into his hand.

"Satisfied?"

"Actually, you don't need to pay me, if you let me give you something." He said.

I was confused, but if it didn't entail me giving away my precious money, I complied. Clint leant over the table and kissed me briefly on the lips, before getting up to leave.

"You coming?" He asked, as I touched my lips in shock.

"Uh, yeah, I'll be one moment, wait outside for me."

I walked towards the bathroom and locked myself in a stall before pulling out my phone and calling Markus immediately.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"So I just went to get burgers with Clint, and he kissed me. What do I do?"

My mind started flying into panic mode, overthinking the situation, and I started to shake uncontrollably. 

"Lori?" Markus asked, as I hung up.

I dropped my phone and started breathing heavily. Trying to control myself, I counted, 5 in, 9 out. I slowly regained control of the situation and slid the cubicle door open. I didn't hear anyone enter the bathroom, but a man with an eyepatch and a disappointed face stood there.

"Lori, you better come with me. We've got some talking to do."

He handed me a tissue without any compassion and left the bathroom, as I trailed behind. Clint was gone, and so was everyone else from the diner. I followed him into the blacked-out car in front of the diner, and shortly afterwards the car sped away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it Clint's fault that Lori had a breakdown or was Lori just not ready to accept feelings like that? Maybe she is hiding something in her past that stops her from pursuing Clint...  
> Ft. special appearance from Fury, and you know he isn't going to be happy with that expression.


	4. A Secret Unfolds

For the whole car journey, the man sat across from me, unimpressed, as I tried to control the flow of tears that started in the bathroom of the diner. The car sped down the roads, though I couldn't see where we were heading. I didn't have a bad feeling about this man, however grumpy he may be looking. The car stopped, and the man with the eyepatch opened the door, motioning for me to get out of the car. Two guards dressed in black tactical uniform escorted me into the building, which surprisingly was Avengers Tower. They lead me into a staff elevator, which instead of sliding up the building dove floors down, until it slid to a halt. Once the doors opened, I could see an almost clinical corridor with offices to each side, and a blacked-out room at the end. They lead me to that room. As I was sat down, the man with the eye-patch entered.

"Miss Wolfe, we have a lot of explaining to do, and not a lot of time. Time isn't a liberty around here." He said.

"Who are you, and where am I?" I replied.

"Fury, Nick Fury. Head of SHIELD. Which is also where we are."

"And why am I here? Why me?"

He laughed a little. "Have you ever wondered why your mother left you right after you were born, and you never met your father?"

I was intrigued.

"That's why you're here. We just found out, after re-checking your name within the SHIELD database when you moved up jobs, that you're related to someone who's very important here."

"Who?"

"Your mother is Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel, familiar with her?"

I was shocked.

"For real? This isn't a big joke or something..."

"Promise. I can give you the files if you want to read them. She couldn't keep you because she has a lot of world saving to do, as one of the most powerful superheroes in the universe to this date."

"Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

Fury sat down across from me. "Since your mother has such potent powers, we need to test you too. We've worked out the odds of genes being passed down with superpowers, and for you, it's almost 30 percent. That's one of the highest odds we've seen in a long time."

"I don't want to do this."

"You don't have a choice, imagine if you inherited the powers, would you want to keep them uncontrollable all your life or have control and save the world? It also means you'll be submitted into the Avengers, if you can handle it."

I took that last sentence as a challenge, and smiled a little.

"Okay then, if you say so."

Fury got up, and opened the door.

"Unfortunately for you, tests start today. And during this period, you'll be staying in a high-security room, in case there are any side effects."

Side effects, hm. I guess I'll hope they aren't bad.

I was lead into another room down the corridor, where SHIELD provided me with plainclothes. Grey tracksuit bottoms, grey top, slippers. Felt like a prison more than an experiment. The guards entered again after I got changed to bring my possessions to my room, and for one of them to escort me to the labs on the floor below. The elevator moved slowly, and I trudged down another corridor before being lead into a large lab, with a surgical table in the middle, two sets of airlock doors to enter and exit, and a large window to one side, where I saw many scientists, and other vaguely familiar faces waiting. As I was told to sit on the bed, a scientist introduced themselves.

"Good afternoon. I'm Dr. White, I will be the one conducting the first tests. Today we will be taking a blood sample and a tissue sample, before checking your current health. I cannot disclose what is happening afterwards because that may affect the results."

I felt butterflies forming in my stomach as the scientist lifted up a needle to my arm to take a sample of blood.

"A sharp prick now."

Dr. White injected the needle into my forearm, and took a needle full of blood. An assistant rushed to take the needle, and placed a scalpel in their hand.

"It is easier if we take the tissue sample without anaesthetic, it will not hurt much."

Dr. White placed the scalpel to my forearm and nicked a bit off skin off. It stung and bled a little, but he quickly placed a bandage across it.

"I will now take your heart rate and blood pressure, and ask you some questions about your health."

The questions went quickly, but I blushed as certain questions about my sexual health and activity were asked. I hoped that the people spectating wouldn't hear my answers. Dr. White inputted the data into a tablet, and handed it to the assistant, who was kitted up in a full hazard suit now. The butterflies quickly built up again. Dr. White got into another suit, as the assistant strapped me down to the bed, and inserted a venous catheter into my hand. I took the time to scan the crowd behind the window again. Mostly scientists, I did recognise a few people... my breath hitched as I saw Clint standing amongst the crowd. He looked visibly upset, and a man who I recognised as Bruce Banner stood next to him, consoling him. As I scanned the crowd again, I recognised that most of the Avengers were observing, probably because if I did have powers that were controllable I'd be joining them. Tony chatted to some scientists, Natasha sat on the bench in front of the window, looking slightly bored. Steve also looked apprehensive, standing in the far corner of the observation room. I guess he'd seen things like this before, seeing as he was injected with serum to make him a super soldier.

"Miss Wolfe, we are now going to inject you with this serum which boosts the appearance of powers within people such as you, with powers yet to surface, it may hurt a little." Dr. White quickly said, injecting the serum into my hand, as both of them quickly left through the airlock. I felt the serum coursing through my veins as my whole body heated up and convulsed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Clint gripping Bruce tightly in apprehension. The word around me went white, and I felt the heat resonate through my hands.

_Lori, feel the control._

The voice sounded familiar.

_Imagine the control in your hands, control the heat._

Mother?

_You have control over your powers._

Her voice resonated in my ears as the white cleared and I saw the room again. I felt myself drifting away as I heard the airlock open again.

 


	5. Lori Wolfe: Character Profile [1]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a lil character profile for Lori! There are many gaps bc things are yet to be announced, no spoilers for how I think the story's gonna progress.

**Here's a lil sketch I did of Lori!**

**BASIC INFORMATION**

Full Name: Lori Natalya Wolfe  
Nickname: Wolfie  
Race: Unknown mixed  
Ethnicity: Unknown mixed  
Nationality: American  
Age: 22

**APPEARANCE & MANNERISMS**

Hair: Curly, dark medium brown, shoulder length  
Eyes: Dark green  
Skin: Unknown mixed, comparable to a medium to light-skinned Arabic  
Height: 174cm, 5"7'  
Build: Average in every way  
Scent: Neutral without perfume, neither smelly nor good-smelling, floral perfume is norm  
Gait: Fast, long strides  
Clothing/Style: Smart casual at work, prefers darks and neutrals, out of work casual  
Style of Speech: Talks relatively fast, no prominent accent from anywhere in particular  
Key Possessions: Always wears her necklace with a star pendant (silver)

**CITIZENSHIP**

Social Status: Average, not a socialite nor a loner, but prefers to stay with close friends  
Occupation: Ex coffee runner, now in the main sector of SHIELD  
Education: Degree in Computing from MIT but avoids telling people about it  
Residence: Avengers Tower

**PERSONALITY**

Likes: Drinking excessively once a week, food, being lazy when stuff isn't necessary  
Dislikes: Financial insecurity, people who are rude, too warm weather  
Hobbies: Computing, skateboarding  
Personality Summary: Generally quite friendly, except if you annoy her, always tired

**RELATIONSHIPS**

Friends/Allies: Current best friend: Markus, Friend(s): Clint  
Enemies/Rivals: No one (yet)  
Family: Unknown father, unknown if has any siblings, mother is Carol Danvers  
Romantic Interest: None yet  
Pets: None, fond of Lucky, Clint's dog

**ABILITIES**

Magical: Some form of power inherited from her mother  
Martial: None at this point

**PROGRESSION**

Background: Didn't know parents until now learning about her mother, grew up with a foster family who didn't care about her, got a scholarship to MIT before moving to NY to work at Avengers Tower  
Internal Conflicts: ?  
External Conflicts: ?  
Character Arc: ?

 


	6. Energy

After what felt like hours spent in a state where all I could see was black, no hearing, nothing, I regained hearing.

"You know that we need more heroes in the team, Clint." I heard Fury say.

"I know! You've told me that so many times! I just didn't like what I just saw, I felt her pain, I don't want her hurt every time she uses her powers." Clint responded.

"We've already arranged Lori to work with some of the others, to make her fit to be part of the Avengers. Wanda Maximoff has offered to help, seeing as she has the most similar type of power to her out of everyone, except from her mother of course. There currently isn't an emergency though, so we can't call Carol. And I know if she was needed her she'd feel it and come, so the time isn't right. We're setting up Natasha to help her train in martial arts and combat, and using weapons where needed."

"You've got to promise me no harm will come to her. I haven't known her that long, but I can feel she's something special. I care for her." Clint said, and I heard footsteps move away from the room, from the weight of the steps, it was Fury.

"Now now Clint, we won't do that. And may I ask, how have you fallen for someone so fast?" I heard Fury leave.

I heard Clint sit down near wherever I was laying.

"Wake up soon, I want to know you're okay."

I tried to budge, but my eyes wouldn't open.

"I'll be waiting."

After a long attempt, my eyes finally slid open, and I squinted at the harsh lights of the room. As I regained my vision, I could see I was in one of the clinic rooms I had passed on the way to the room where I was tested. Clint sat in a chair beside my bed, looking sleep deprived and worried.

"Cl-lint?" I mumbled.

He sat straight up, and smiled in relief. He then proceeded to pick up his comm, and mutter a quick message, "She's up."

I felt a little dizzy and a wave of nausea passed over me. Everything went white. I lurched to be sick, and threw up all over the covers as I was too weak to move that fast. As I felt another wave hitting me, and the room turning white again, I threw myself out of the bed with all my strength and retched on the floor again, before trying to drag myself to the bathroom attached to the room. As I tried to move faster, I felt a familiar hand on my back and Clint's arms picked me up and carried me the rest of the distance to the bathroom.

"Stay here, be sick as much as you want. I'm going to get assistance." He stated before moving into the corridor and calling for a nurse for assistance. 

Before long, a nurse had cleared away any mess in my main room and moved towards the bathroom, where I was still leaning over the toilet, with a fresh stack of clothes and some towels. When she approached me, I felt a wave of heated anger that I didn't sense when Clint helped me.

"I'm only here to help, and to help you wash yourself off..." She started before I felt a white flash again and the next time the room cleared she was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily into her comm.

"Subject seems to respond negatively to all unfamiliar organisms... I think it's time to go to our last resort. Call Mr. Barton back in here." She dropped the pile of things on the floor and moved away swiftly. I felt the anger drain away again, and flopped onto the floor in exhaustion. As I started to shut my eyes, I heard Clint enter hurriedly.

"So they told me apparently your powers are attacking anyone who you don't trust or know, and I'm their last option. Please let me help you, no one wants to see you in this state. They've called someone called Markus who is apparently your good friend to be sent down once you're settled. That can't happen until you get yourself cleaned up." He looked at the tub. "I don't think there's any chance of getting you in there like they wanted you to in that state, so at least let me help you clean yourself up, and get those dirty clothes off."

I nodded weakly, and Clint gave me an arm up to sit on the chair in the bathroom. He picked up the towels and clothes.

"So, uh, I guess you're not really comfortable with me helping you actually get changed, so I'll give you your stuff and turn away, if something goes ridiculously wrong just give me a shout." Clint said and handed me another set of the plainclothes, and turned away, and I saw a blush starting to creep on his face. I started to pull off my clothes, which were stained with puke, and slowly put my new ones on, losing my balance as I finally pulled up my trousers and fell on the floor. Clint turned around quickly, to his relief I was fully dressed. He helped me back up onto the chair and took the washcloth provided and started to remove the dirt from my hair and face.

"My older brother never showed any real compassion to me, so I was the one who had to show it to others to make sure that I remembered that I was real and loved back by people. That's why I stayed at your bedside, I just knew that you needed someone there for you for reassurance."

I did need that, I felt when he was near me I didn't need to let my powers go, or attack anyone.

"Thank you." I said weakly as he placed the used items out of the way and carried me back to my bed, which was now freshly made. To my dismay, the doors were airlocked shut and Fury was staring through the window, standing next to him a woman with brown hair, who I recognised as Wanda Maximoff. I was very good at lipreading from years of watching through screens, and I could recognise her saying that she's going to help me. I looked over to Clint.

"Looks like they're sending Wanda in early." He said.

"I- read-" I started, but I could see in Clint's eyes that he knew that I knew what they were saying. 

The airlock slid open, and Wanda entered slowly.

"Hi, I'm Wanda Maximoff, I've been sent to help you." She introduced herself. "Fury wants to speak to you again, Clint, if you want to go speak to him."

Clint exited, making sure to check on me one final time before leaving, and I smiled in reassurance. Like with Clint, I didn't feel the same anger coursing through me, even though this was a stranger. I felt the electric in my veins mingle with the powers I felt resonating from her.

"I can feel your powers, you can probably feel mine, if I'm correct?" Wanda asked.

I nodded.

"I guess I should start with telling you that I'm here to help you take control of your powers. As long as you focus, it won't take long. It's good that I can already feel it, then I know when you're doing it right."

I looked at her intently.

"Firstly, to keep total control, you'll need to stay healthy in diet and in mind. Fury has set you up to work with Natasha for that, she's a natural at teaching martial arts. Secondly, you'll need to be able to feel where your power is amalgamating within your body, so you know where to focus on when you control them. You need to close your eyes and stay still, and feel where the focus point of your powers are."

I closed my eyes, and felt the energy in my body move towards my core.

"It's the core." I said.

Wanda smiled, "Okay, well when you feel like you're out of control then focus on that point. Focus on how you can channel that and keep it controlled. If you can't keep it in, then try and channel it to something that won't do any harm, like a cup. Obviously you're not feeling out of control right now, so we can't test that, but when you get sent back to your room for bed rest then you might have days where you can't control it."

Wanda handed me her phone number.

"Call me if there's anything you need to ask, or ask Jarvis to send me up. I think they're sending you back soon, so be happy that you're not stuck in the clinic anymore."

 


	7. A Progression

Wanda was correct, after spending a few hours resting in my hospital room they moved me back to my actual room. As I trudged in, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My hair was dishevelled and I was paler than usual. No surprise after the last day's events. I quickly manoeuvred my hands through my hair to settle it down and moved into the living room. 

"Lori, I was so worried about you!"

Markus ran towards me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Eyepatch dude came and talked to me about what was happening. I wanted to let you know it doesn't change if I like you or not, you're still you. You're still my friend, Lori."

Markus released me from his grip and grinned happily.

"I ordered pizza! And I may have invited Clint, because he showed up to see if you were back yet. Probably because I kinda want you two to hook up too." Markus blabbed. " He's coming any moment now-"

There was a knock at the door and Markus happily ran over to open the door. As it flew open, Lucky sprinted towards me and jumped at my feet happily.

"Someone's happy to see me." I laughed.

"Make that two." Clint joked, and entered.

As we all settled onto the couch, the food delivery chute dinged and Jarvis piped up.

"Two pizzas have just arrived."

Lucky ran towards the chute, which was luckily positioned out of reach, and Markus swiftly whisked the pizza boxes towards the living room.

"I just ordered margaritas, something light."

I laughed a little. "Pizza is never light, I don't know how much I'll manage."

Clint reached into the box and threw a piece to Lucky before taking a piece for himself.

"At least try to eat a piece or two, or I'll force feed you." Clint said, taking a large bite of his slice.

"I'm going to take that as a challenge, game on." I threatened. "Let's see if you can get that pizza in my mouth."

I braced myself to run towards the bedroom, and lock myself in. Clint ran and I quickly jumped towards the door, slamming it behind me and turning the lock.

"How are you gonna get me now?" I shouted through the door.

I didn't hear a response, but a faint chuckle. I braced myself for a reply, but nothing came. I paced across my bedroom, waiting for him to get to me, or give up. After what felt like ten minutes, I walked towards the door to see if I could hear any movements or him giving up. As I was only a few paces from the door, the lock suddenly turned and Clint burst in, tackling me to the floor with the pizza box in hand. I winced a little, but laughed.

"How did you manage that?" I enquired.

Clint put a finger to his lips and whispered, "I have my ways."

As I looked past Clint, I saw that neither Lucky nor Markus were present.

"Where are Markus and the dog?"

"Markus offered to take Lucky for a walk." Clint winked, and moved to help me off the floor.

 _Oh no, Markus is setting me up,_ I thought.

I stood in front of Clint for a little, looking at him. He was very well-built, with a large grin plastered on his face and an attractive mane of hair.

 _Double oh no,_ I thought, _I find him attractive._

Clint stepped closer to me. I felt his warm breath tickle my face.

"So, uh, wanna come sit down with me?" Clint asked cautiously.

I nodded hesitantly and Clint held out his hand for me to take it, and led me back into the living room. We sat back on the sofa, and Clint switched on the TV. He looked back at me.

"You look tired, do you not want to take a nap?" Clint asked.

"Only if it's on your lap." I blurted out.

_Oh no._

Clint looked at me quizzically and then pulled my head to lay on his lap.

"Get yourself a power nap and I'll be here," Clint joked, "Not like I can move anyway."

I rested my head on his warm lap, and closed my eyes. The TV buzzed in the background as I quickly fell asleep.

 

 

When I woke up, Clint was also sleeping, his head rested on his arm. He had put a blanket over me whilst I was sleeping as I woke in a tangle of blanket. I felt the soft breathing of him under my head, and decided to stay put as not to disturb his rest. The sun was already blaring through the window, and from the positioning it was almost midday.

"Urgh, I'm missing work." I groaned quietly.

Clint stirred and slowly opened his eyes, yawning. I looked up at his torso towering over me.

"Morning, or should I say midday." I laughed.

Clint groaned and quickly sat up in disapproval.

"I was meant to bring you up to meet the rest of the team a few hours ago."

"Jarvis, do I have any voicemails, missed calls or messages?" I asked.

"Miss Wolfe, you have 4 missed calls, 5 messages, and someone came to visit but you were fast asleep."

As I heard the reply, a phone call started.

"You two are expected right now, come to floor 100." The woman said sternly, and the call stopped.

"Guess we better get moving."

 

 

In the elevator on the way up, Clint stood close to me.

"Did you sleep alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, better than hospital beds that's for sure."

"This is the first time I've overslept in months." Clint stated, and we both laughed a little.

"I guess everyone had a bad impression of me now."

The doors slid open, and all of the Avengers were stood around the conference table, looking impatient.

"Sorry we're late, we-" Clint started.

"Yeah, we know, I walked in." Tony Stark said, folding his arms but easing his facial expression. "Tut tut, Clint, sleeping with the new teammate?"

"I swear it wasn't what it looked like, we're literally just friends." I answered.

I scanned the room. Other than Tony, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were sat around the table.

"You're the girl who was so drunk she tried to tackle me!" Steve exclaimed.

I laughed uneasily. "Uh, sorry? I can't remember anything, I didn't even know if that was just some story or if it was actually true."

"Jeez this new member is a mess," Tony said, "Welcome to the dysfunctional family. We're all messes around here. Spangles is about 100 years old, Bruce is basically the Green Giant, Nat could kill anyone without anyone finding out, and so would Terminator over there, and I'm practically perfect-"

"Come on, that's not how to treat the new member, nor introduce you." Natasha interrupted. "On the other hand, you better get used to him, he's the pain in the ass, milaya."

"Spasibo za kompliment, ya pol'shchen." I replied.

Natasha looked surprised, and so did Bucky, as he was proficient in Russian too.

"I'm impressed, and it looks like Bucky is too." Natasha looked over at Bucky. "I'd like to see what other languages you can speak later."

Tony Stark continued the conversation. "No time for dawdling now, we've got to sort out a few details before giving you some free rein around here. Once this is done, Bruce will escort you to the private medical facility for the Avengers to have your measurements taken and to be fitted with a medical chip, so we can track vitals, location, all that jazz. We'll have a suit fitted for you, there might need to be some testing, seeing was your powers may impact the limits of the materials, but it should work out. I know you've moved a lot lately, but seeing as you're part of the Avengers you're staying on these floors. Room 26, to be exact. Nat's to your left, Clint's to your right. Bad idea now, we don't want you two getting handsy-"

"We're not a couple!" I retorted.

"Ok fine, at least we won't hear your moans through the walls, it's all soundproofed." Tony joked. "Well, Bruce will take you now, we'll all see you for dinner. You can order or cook yourself."

Everyone got up from around the table, Clint giving me a quick look of reassurance and a pat on the back as I made my way towards Bruce.

"So, uh, Dr Banner? I haven't been here, lead the way."

"Don't bother calling me that, it's just Bruce. If you're ever confused, just find one of the Avengers or ask Jarvis, don't worry about getting properly lost. You'll probably find Tony in his lab or partying, I'll be in my lab most of the time, Steve and Bucky spend a lot of time in the training facilities on the top floor, and who knows where Natasha disappears to every day."

We made our way into the corridor, and he lead me to the medical facility. As I entered, a large MRI-like machine sat in the middle of the room, a woman operating it.

"Ah, Dr Banner, Miss Wolfe, welcome." She said as we entered. "I'm Helen Cho, I'm going to be taking a full-body scan today, and inserting your chip. Take a seat on the machine Lori, Bruce you aren't required to be here, so you're excused."

I sat down on the machine, and watched Bruce leave, as he took a quick peek back at me.

"Lay down and stay still, this won't take long."

I obeyed, and lay still on the machine as it whirred around me and a lime green laser passed over my whole body.

"I've just got to insert your chip, and you're all ready to go then." Helen said as the machine stopped, and held a syringe to my arm. She quickly pushed the chip into my upper arm, and cleaned the entrance site.

"I think Natasha is waiting for you." Helen indicated and I looked out of the room to see Natasha waiting.

"Thanks." I mumbled and quickly went towards Natasha. As I approached, she smiled.

"You better get cracking on what languages you can speak, Bucky and I have a bet."

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the translations for the Russian (they might be bad as I use Google Translate):
> 
> Milaya: Pretty
> 
> Spasibo za kompliment, ya pol'shchen: Thanks for the compliment, I'm flattered


	8. Proficiency

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short one, when Natasha asks Lori about her languages and has a bet to win or lose. After this chapter, I'm not going to use Google Translate for my languages, I'm just going to put it in italics and say what language is being spoken!

 

"Well I guess you don't need proof that I can speak English." I laughed.

"Nope, that one's already obvious to me."

"Okay, so the other languages I can speak are Russian of course, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, I'm proficient at ASL as well."

"Afin que vous puissiez me comprendre quant je dis cela?"

"Oui."

"Und wenn ich dich fragen würde, wie dein Leben ist, würdest du was sagen?"

"Gerade relativ gut."

"¿Y cuál es tu profesión qué?"

"Ahora, soy un vengador."

"Zhōngguó rén zǒng shì hěn nán, nǐ shì zěnme zhǎodào de?"

"Wǒ de yìsi shì, wǒ cāi shì hǎo de."

Natasha stood back, impressed.

"I guess Bucky's won the bet, I didn't think you'd be able to speak that many more languages."

"What did you lose?"

"I'm paying for drinks this evening, in celebration of our new member. Oh and before I forget to ask you in excitement, how did you learn all of those?" Natasha asked.

"I had a lot of time on my hands as a kid, so I used them to learn useful things. Just hobbies, I guess though."

"Just hobbies? You're kidding me! You sound fluent, I would never know you're American from your Russian accent."

I blushed a little. "Why thanks, I tried."

Natasha took my arm and lead me back to the main Avengers living area, where Bucky was sat with a book in his hands.

"Buck, you won. Guess we better get that party started soon, so I don't regret betting with you."

Bucky laughed, before pointing up the sweeping staircase.

"Stark's already setting up on the roof, we better get ready for some wild ass party he throws for no special reason."

I laughed at his comment. "Am I not special now?" I mocked jokingly.

Bucky winked, and just replied bluntly, "If you're special then none of us are normal."

"And damn well right we're not!" Nat exclaimed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations for this chapter:
> 
> ahora soy un vengador- I am now an Avenger
> 
> ¿Y cuál es tu profesión qué?- and what is your profession?
> 
> und wenn ich dich fragen würde, wie dein Leben ist, würdest du was sagen?- and if I asked you, how your life is, you would say what?
> 
> gerade relativ gut- currently relatively good
> 
> afin que vous puissiez me comprendre quand je dis cela?- so you would understand me if i said this?
> 
> Wǒ de yìsi shì, wǒ cāi shì hǎo de- i mean, it was alright i guess
> 
> Zhōngguó rén zǒng shì hěn nán, nǐ shì zěnme zhǎodào de- and chinese, most people find it hard, how did you find it?


	9. A Celebration of a New Member

"Your wardrobe, let's put it this way, is lacking." Nat said, as she rifled through the hangers in my new room.

"Miss Romanoff, if I may, since Miss Wolfe's measurements were taken, Mr Stark took the liberty to add some new clothing to her wardrobe." Jarvis piped up.

The closet door closest to the window automatically slid open, and revealed a whole selection of casual and evening wear. 

"May I suggest wearing the clothes Mr Stark picked out for this evening." Jarvis said again, and the clothes parted to leave one item hanging there.

The jumpsuit was not too formal, nor too casual. I pulled it out in its garment bag and nodded to Natasha as I made my way to the bathroom to get changed. As I unzipped the garment bag, I saw that everything had already been put inside for accessories and undergarments too. Other than the jumpsuit, a precariously high cut pair of underwear, a simple silver chain with a star pendant and matching earrings, and a pair of black heeled sandals were enclosed. I quickly got changed and called Natasha into the bathroom to help me with my hair and makeup. When she entered, she was also in her party wear, and looked ready to go.

"You look great." I complimented.

"You too, milaya."

I looked in the mirror and frowned at my mess of hair.

"My hair is the worst to control, can you help me?"

She nodded and picked up a fine comb to help sort out my hair. My hair was placed into a mess-but-not-messy style hairdo, which looked perfect with my jumpsuit. As Nat worked on my hair, I added a simple bit of eyeliner and a natural lip colour to finish my look. When it was finished, I looked in the mirror again. I hadn't felt this beautiful in a while, nevertheless cared for by people I'd known for a day at most. I smiled as I caught my reflection.

"Miss Wolfe, Miss Romanoff, the party is starting. Everyone else is already there." Jarvis said.

"Guess it's time to have some fun." 

 

The party was on the roof, where a large bar with every type of alcohol and a plethora of stringed lights and every type of light. Tony was chatting excitedly at the bar, probably already drunk, conversing with Bruce, who didn't look as excited as Tony. Steve and Bucky were looking over the New York city line, deep in conversation. Wanda came over to hang with Natasha, and she walked off with her. Clint looked like he was waiting for someone, and his eyes lit up when he saw me. He came over straightaway, and flew into a hug.

"It's been a bit."

"Only 2 hours, calm yourself!" I laughed, and embraced him back. After yesterday, I felt myself being closer to Clint than ever before. He hooked his arm around me and we walked towards the bar.

"Two Negronis, we need them." Clint said, and the bartender started mixing the drinks. Tony slid across the bar to speak to us.

"I see Clint's making a move again." Tony joked, and downed the rest of his glass. He was clearly already a little tipsy.

"Nope, again we're just friends." I answered adamantly.

Tony winked and called for another glass of scotch.

"How's your party feeling?" He asked me, and I shrugged in reply. The bartender put our drinks in front of us, and I took a long gulp.

"Not the biggest partier." I replied.

"Didn't seem like that when Steve was telling us all about the girl who nearly tackled him being intoxicated." Tony responded.

I sighed, and looked at Clint, who clearly had heard the retelling and found it hilarious.

"If you two are getting down and dirty you better not drink much tonight!" Tony shouted.

Clint slapped him across his shoulder and he winced.

"That's for all the jokes you've made, just because every woman is drooling over you and your billionaire's lifestyle, doesn't mean that I have girls all over me!" Clint responded.

"Well, I better let you two get on, Bruce is lonely otherwise. He should socialise more!" Tony cried out before sliding back along the bar. I downed the rest of my drink and walked towards the edge of the building, looking over the skyline. I walked along the perimeter of the roof before finding a section that was quieter and secluded from the Avenger's eyes, and also conveniently near the exit. As I felt the evening breeze tickle my skin, an arm slid around my waist and pulled me towards them tightly. I looked over and saw Clint. He smiled and I leant my head against his shoulder.

"I can't believe so much has happened in the last few days. In a matter of a week I've gone from a nobody to an Avenger. I just can't get to grips with it."

"I'm glad I met you, you've brought light into my life even when you've spent the last few days struggling through a lot." Clint responded, and he loosened his grip around my waist. 

His voice resonated with passion and care, and I felt a happy energy resonating from him.

"Lori?" Clint asked, and turned to me. He bit his lip apprehensively.

"Yes?" I responded, and felt like I knew what was going to happen next, this time I didn't refuse.

Clint leant towards me, and kissed me on the lips. I leant into his kiss, deepening it. My hands drifted into his locks of hair. We pulled back, and I could see a spark in his eyes.

"Want to get out of here?" Clint whispered, and I nodded. 

 

 

As we got to the living quarters, we got to my room and I paused briefly.

"To mine?" Clint asked, and we continued down the corridor, to one of the larger rooms at the end, room 32. 

Clint held his hand to the scanner to the left of the door, and the door slid open. Clint's room was a more spacious and personalised version of mine, tones of grey and purple instead of the bland white. Clint slipped his jacket off and threw it on a side table, before leading me to his room. We sat on the bed, and kissed again, our lips welding as our breaths hitched. Clint's arms wrapped around my waist again, and slowly ran down my back, my jumpsuit straps sliding down precariously. As we broke the kiss, I felt some uncertainty.

"Uh, how far were you planning to go?" 

Clint saw the uncertainty in my eyes.

"Only as far as you want." He replied.

I took his hand and gripped it tightly.

"I don't think I'm ready, if that's okay? I've had alcohol, I'm tired, and we haven't spoken about this relationship yet. I just want to spend a night cuddled up to you, and feel if it's right." I said.

Clint smiled and pulled me into another kiss.

"Well, I better get these jeans off if we get into bed."

Clint stood up and unbuckled his jeans, then slipped them off and threw them across the room, leaving him in a shirt and boxers. He slowly unbuttoned his shirt and threw that across the room too. Feeling a little more at ease, Clint lifted the covers of the bed and slipped underneath, waiting for me to come.

"So, uh, I've got to get this stupid jumpsuit off first." I muttered before pushing the straps off my shoulders and sliding out of it. I heard Clint hold his breath in awe for a moment as I was left standing in my underwear. I quickly slipped next to him in his bed, and laid my head on his chest. I felt his strong heartbeat and regular breaths under my head. Clint wrapped his arm around me, making sure to run it slowly across my torso teasingly. I gasped a little and felt his arm secure around my torso. My eyes started to close as I heard Clint whisper a faint "I love you". 

 


	10. Maybe, Just a Little, Awkward

I woke up sprawled across Clint's chest, still in his room. Clint was also just waking up.

"Morning." I mumbled as I moved off Clint's chest. 

Clint slowly got up, and looked over at me. Seeing that I only had the jumpsuit from last evening laying on the floor and my undergarments, Clint quickly rushed to his closet to pull out a pair of jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, and placed them on the bed next to me.

"You're probably not gonna walk around half nude to your room, so take these and get some sensible clothes when you get back." Clint said, pulling some chinos and a polo out for him to wear.

"We gonna talk about last night?" I asked, moving to slip the clothes on.

"Do we need to admit Tony was right, and we're a thing now?" Clint laughed, moving over to me to kiss me on the head.

"I guess so." I replied, getting up to leave the bedroom, picking up my shoes and jumpsuit on the way.

"Leaving so fast?" Clint asked, and I nodded in reply.

"You said it yourself, get something sensible on me." I kissed him goodbye, and exited his room. 

Coincidentally, and unfortunately, Steve was just walking past at that moment. I smiled at him awkwardly.

"Where were you last night..." He started, then saw whose room I was walking out of, coughed a little, and I walked to my room as fast as I could without looking like an idiot. I pressed my hand to the door sensor, and quickly got into my room.

"Miss Wolfe, you have one new message from Tony Stark, would you like to play it?" Jarvis said.

"Go ahead."

The message played.

_"So, uh, you disappeared pretty quick, and so did Clint, and someone told me they saw you two walking back to your rooms, so is it appropriate to say I told you so now? Oh and training with Nat is at 9am sharp, in the fitness studio."_

I sighed, and made my way to my closet, where I pulled out a sports bra and pair of leggings in anticipation of the training. As I made my way to the living area for breakfast, I saw Tony Stark pouring himself a very large cup of coffee in the kitchen.

"Morning Lori." Tony said, with a tone that said "I told you so".

"Morning Tony." I replied, pulling a box of cornflakes off a shelf.

"How was your night?" Tony said suggestively.

I poured myself a bowl of cereal, and sat down at the kitchen island.

"Fine, I fell asleep early, my life is one constant lapse of exhaustion." I joked.

Tony cocked an eyebrow. "That's it?"

I sighed, "Fine, I'm sure everyone knows I spent the night in Clint's room, but nothing happened. Promise."

"Are you two a thing now?" 

"I think so?" 

"Keep your hands to yourself when you're working together then, no PDA!"

I sighed and started eating my cereal, as Clint walked in.

"There's the man." Tony said, and I put a hand to my face.

"Hi Tony, hi Lori." Clint said, and placed his tablet on the countertop. He walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders as I finished my cereal. Tony sipped his coffee and turned to go to the elevator.

"I'm leaving before there's too much PDA with you two." Tony said, before getting into the elevator. As the doors slid shut, I turned to Clint.

"He's jealous I bet, I'm that irresistible." I joked.

"You're beautiful, you know that." Clint replied.

I looked at the large clock on the wall, realising it was 9am.

"Oh shit, I'm meant to be training with Nat now. Dunno when I'll be back or if I'll be back in one piece, I haven't worked out in ages."

I kissed Clint on the cheek and walked towards the elevator, and made my way to the fitness floor. As I reached it, I saw a large pool, sauna, a gym with every high-tech piece of equipment to this day, and a large training centre, containing a shooting range and a combat floorspace. I saw Natasha in the training centre and went towards her.

"Hey Lori, nice to see you. Thanks for showing up, I was meant to tell you that there was training last evening, but you disappeared off with Clint, so I let you two get on." Natasha said.

"For the millionth time, it wasn't what it looked like! Yeah, we're official now, but we didn't do what everyone thinks we did."

"I'll take your word for that." Natasha handed me a baton. "Have you done any martial arts, or self-defence classes at any point?"

"Nope, I used to go to the gym if that means anything. Stopped when I got here as I had better things to do."

"Okay, so I'll start with the basics. You're going to try and hit me, and I'll give you pointers on how to improve your aim and your speed. I'd also start working out again, work on your core muscles, but work on everything though. If you're sent on missions, you'll need to be physically fit, and also capable of wielding all categories of weapons. Those are guns and blades. The main subcategories of guns are long guns and hand guns. The main subcategories of blades we use are knives and swords. Clint's really the only one who uses a bow, and it isn't a beginner's choice of weapon, so I think we'll start you on guns and blades."

"That's a lot to take in."

I quickly try to strike her, but Nat blocks me easily.

"You're got to be less predictable, and faster, if you want to hit me."

I go for another strike, swiping at her legs, but she jumps over the baton.

"Use your core strength to move the baton faster and more evenly."

I felt a rush of energy through my arms, and everything went white for a second before the room cleared. Natasha was laying halfway across the room, the baton a few metres to her left, a small gash on her forehead. I stood in shock for a moment, before turning and running into the elevator. I pressed the button for the ground floor, praying that no one else gets into it. I reached the ground floor, and swiftly exited the building. I jogged away from the building until I ended up in a side road, where I checked my pockets for my card. Thank God I had my ID card on me, as it doubled as a credit card thanks to Stark's new and updated technology. I really needed a fag, so I went into the next convenience store. I went straight to the counter, picked up a pack of Marlboros and a lighter and paid, before making my way further through New York. I found my way to Bryant Park, and sat down beneath a tree, and pulled out the lighter and cigarettes and stuck one in my mouth. Watching people who didn't know me nor cared about me go past and get on with their lives calmed me down, I liked being invisible because then people wouldn't worry about me or bother me. I finished the cigarette quickly, and laid down to rest. After having an outbreak of my powers I always felt tired, and this time I was especially exhausted. My eyes drifted shut, and I laid my head down...


	11. Internal Conflicts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my birthday tomorrow, so count this as a thank you gift/early birthday present from me to all my readers! Thanks for reading this if you are.

I woke up in a rumbling car, on a familiar lap. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, feeling the person helping me upright.

"Stark reminded me that you had a tracker, when Nat told me you ran for it after your powers came out again I had to find you." Clint said. He pulled the cigarettes and lighter out of his pocket. "What were you doing with these? Talk to me."

I sighed heavily. "I may have fallen back into bad habits, and broken my one year cigarette-free streak. I started smoking when school stress became too bad a few years back, and to be honest who even cares? I'll only cut a few years off my life, it's no biggie. I could be doing far worse things to myself."

"Don't say that, you wouldn't."

I thought back to the time in my life where my foster family used me as their emotional punchbag the year before I left for uni, and shuddered a little when I remembered the awful memories and things I did to myself. I instinctively reached for my thigh, feeling if my scars were still there.

Clint looked concerned, but spoke supportive words. "I saw last night, I know. You should know I'm always here for you, and it's going to get easier over time to control your powers. Wanda's always on standby to help, if you need it. On the note of your powers, Stark and his team have finished developing a prototype of some sleeves to help you control your powers easier, similar things have been made for other people with powers. They've developed ones for your forearms and thighs. Wanda used to wear a similar thing before she had hers fully under control, and Quake wears a pair of forearm ones. You'll be surprised how little you can feel them, it's like a second skin."

I could sense he only meant good, but I still felt apprehensive, especially as they were attaching them to my thighs, where my scars are. The car shuddered to a stop, and the door opened. I moved to get up, and Clint helped me up. At the entrance, Tony was standing with Helen. As we walked towards them, Tony moved forwards to help me too.

"We better get you up straightaway, to get you fitted." Tony said, as he escorted me into the building and into the elevator. The elevator ride was silent, until we got into the medical wing and I ended up in a room with just Tony whilst Helen was prepping.

"What were you doing running around, kid?"

"Stuff, at least I don't drown myself with alcohol in situations like these." I replied hastily.

"Well, we better get these sleeves on you then."

Helen walked back in with a case with the SHIELD logo branded on it, and placed it on the counter next to me.

"Please be seated, Lori." She said, as she opened the case. Inside the case lay two sets of translucent sleeves, a smaller pair for my arms, a larger pair for my legs. Helen pulled out the set of arm sleeves and moved towards me.

"These are made to your exact measurements, but if your body weight adjusts then they'll automatically fit to your shape. They'll feel like you're wearing nothing, and are resistant to all conditions, cold, heat, water."

I held out my arms for Helen to pull them over, and didn't feel anything.

"These really are weightless, I can't feel anything." I said, as Helen turned to get the leg sleeves.

I was still wearing my workout gear, so I'd have to take off my leggings to get them on. I quickly slipped them off, to try and get it over with, especially as I didn't want Tony seeing my scars. Helen slipped the thigh sleeves on, but saw the scars.

"How long ago was that from?" Helen asked.

"Uh, 2 years?" I replied, slightly uncomfortable.

"I can get the cradle out sometime to heal those over."

I looked behind me, and Tony was pulling the same facial expression Clint had pulled when he saw my scars.

"I'm, I'm alright right now, I think I'll head back to my room."

I slipped my leggings back on, and immediately left the room. Clint was waiting outside, and threw an arm around me.

"I'm heading back to my room." I said, making my way to the living quarters.

"Alone?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, I need some time. I'll call you if I feel better later."

Clint kissed me on the cheek, and made his way to the training facility whilst I carried on to my room. As I unlocked the door, I found Markus sitting in my room.

"You're an actual mess, Lori." He joked, and hugged me tightly. "What's in your head, love bug?"

"To be honest, everything possible." I replied, and flopped onto the sofa.

"I ordered snacks." Markus said, and I smiled. Food always makes you feel better.

"I was planning to have some time alone not gonna lie." I hugged Markus tightly.

He smiled in understanding. "That's alright, as long as you tell me what happened first."

"I was training, and my powers got out of hand, so I just ran to go somewhere far away from here, fell into my bad habit of smoking again, and then Clint found me because I have a tracker implanted in me. Now I'm here and even after falling asleep under a tree, I'm exhausted. I think I'll get some sleep now." I yawned softly and stood up to go to my bedroom. "You're welcome to stay until the snacks arrive, and take them with you."

"Thanks, will do." Markus hugged me again before leaving my room.

I trudged to the bedroom, where I slipped into a pair of PJs before falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

_I stood on the tip of a large hill, watching over the base below, partially hidden by the dense trees. I wore a fitted and rather limited tactical suit, in a shade of dark crimson, a gun strapped to my waist._

_"Eyes on the target from north?" Natasha said through a comm in my ear._

_"Eyes on target from north, I'm moving closer, send the others in."_

_I moved into the start of the tree cover near the base. As I slipped through the trees, I could see the gates were guarded by two fully armed assault vehicles and a team of 10 soldiers._

_"10 soldiers, 2 tacticals." I said into the comms._

_"Sending a ballistic, make sure you're covered." Tony replied this time, I ducked behind a large tree and moments later heard a large bang, before looking back at the gates, everyone was knocked out or dead and the gates were fully destroyed, leaving space to get in._

_"Mo_ _ving in." I replied, touching a button on my suit which caused it to reinforce._

_I tiptoed my way to the gates, hands up in front of my in anticipation of an attack. As I moved through the gates, I heard a motorbike roar towards me, a familiar sounding motorbike, and loud, thudding footsteps. The motorbike stopped, and similar footsteps joined me on the right of the other ones. I looked to each side, Bucky to one side, gun in hand, and Steve on the other side, his shield raised up._

_"Ready?" I asked, and they both nodded._

_We paced into the base, and we were greeted with silence. I scanned the area for any movement, but couldn't see any._

_"I'll take the south, you two take the east and west facilities." I whispered, carrying on moving towards the concrete building in front of me. I raised my hands at the door and a blast of energy knocked them down effortlessly. I continued my path, creeping down the stairs into the basement, where I found even more silence. I stepped cautiously into the centre of the empty room, confused where everyone was, and why it was so quiet. Before I could react, the floor dropped from beneath me, and I dropped into a glass chamber. I tried to blast through the glass, but my powers weren't working. I reached for the gun at my waist but felt it wasn't there anymore. A strange-looking man, dressed in god-like clothing, stepped out of the darkness at the edges of the room around the chamber, twirling my gun in his hands._

_"You better get better at finding what you need, or you'll end up dead next time." He sneered. "You're lucky I'm not killing you quite yet, I've got some interrogation and some deals I need to do before I get rid of you."_

I snapped out of my dream, feeling shaken. It didn't feel like a dream, it felt like a premonition. I'd had dreams like these before, not large events, but small things. They all came true. I became slowly worried.

 

 

 


	12. An Arrival and a Mission

After being shaken by my scarily realistic dream, I got up quickly to go to the training floor, as I needed to work out again, or I wouldn't stay in good shape if I was sent on any missions. I severely doubted this, as I had consistent uncontrollable outbreaks of my powers, but I didn't dwell on it. I needed to move forward with everything, if I didn't try to help myself I couldn't even help myself. I couldn't rely on others to do the work for me as it's me who needs work done on, and only I can do that. Of course, others' support is vital, but they aren't the ones solving the problems. On a brighter note too, the sleeves seemed to be working, I couldn't feel the energy as powerfully and I felt more in control. Maybe I finally had a shot at being put on a mission, I felt useless if I didn't have something proper to do.

The gym was empty, as I had arrived at 4.30am, far before the Avengers would typically have breakfast and train. Occasionally, I'd see Natasha wander the corridors this early, but I didn't doubt that she always had a lot on her mind. I could relate, sleepless nights were usually felt when my brain was full of far too much to process. I walked to the running machine, where I quickly plugged in the pair of earphones I always had in the front pocket of my workout gear. I surfed through a large amount of music specially built-in by Tony himself, a large music fan, and found what I was looking for. Rock workout. I was always a large fan of rock music, pop music never suited my likings. I didn't look like I loved it, but I sure did. My first ever concert was gawping at how amazing Green Day were, my friends at the time moshing along in the 10,000-strong crowd. I pressed shuffle and started the running machine at the same speed. Basket Case came on, and I smiled. Green Day was always going to be nostalgic for me, as one of the first rock bands I fell in love with.

_Do you have the time to listen to me whine..._

I started jogging and absent-mindedly stared out of the large window across the gym.

_About nothing and everything all at once..._

In the distance, I thought I could see thunder clouds, but they looked different. They raged with more thunder than I had ever seen.

_I am one of those melodramatic fools..._

I pressed the off button of the running machine as I saw something fly fast towards the building.

_Neurotic to the bone no doubt about it..._

I quickly switched off the music as well and got ready for the worst. The figure flew towards the building, and seemingly landed on the roof. I was only two floors below, so I quickly rushed to the staircase leading to the roof. As I opened the door, I saw a man standing on it, looking serious. His outfit reminded me of old age, medieval maybe, maybe Viking, clothing. His hair was luminous and golden and fell to his shoulders as he threw his head.

"Where is Tony Stark?" His voice was low and powerful.

I stood there gawping, a little shocked.

"I am Thor, God of Thunder, son of Odin, and I've been called to Midgard to help deal with a threat in the shape of my brother."

"For real? You're Thor?" I managed to press out the words.

"Aye, it is me. Now if you don't mind, I need Tony..."

Thor was cut off by someone throwing the door open behind me, and I spun to see who it was. Tony was standing in the doorway, beaming.

"Thor, my man! Thanks for taking the call, we thought we had the situation in grips, but Loki got his hands on the tesseract. We're not safe by ourselves with that in his hands."

"Did I hear that correctly, the actual god of mischief is threatening world destruction?" I blurted out.

"Lori, it might be appropriate to call a team meeting, I know everyone's going to be groggy because it's so early, but this is important."

I rush back into the building, summoning Jarvis straightaway.

"Jarvis, please start a code red, we need the whole team out."

"Of course, Miss Wolfe."

I made my way to the conference room and sat down at a chair towards the end of the table. Soon after, the rest of the team poured in, Thor and Tony included. Thor dawdled around and didn't sit down, he seemed apprehensive. 

"So, we've run into a bit more of a situation. Loki now has possession of the tesseract, and he's been threatening world domination. Fortunately, I have just got the news that he's been seen at an event in Stuttgart, Germany. Fury for some reason has assigned Lori and Clint to the situation, with Nat, Steve and me as a backup. Let me guess, 'look more authentic' sending in an actual couple?"

I laughed and looked over to Clint, who was sitting across the conference table. He looked very tired but still flashed a smile.

"Also, we're leaving in two hours. You two need to get yourselves to a dress shop, it's a formal event. Take the card, pay for whatever. It's on the work budget."

Everyone started moving, so I got up to see Clint.

"Nat's dropping us in on a Quinjet, so we have time to get our clothes there," Clint said, wrapping an arm around my waist and proceeding to move towards the doors that lead to the landing pad on the roof. The ramp to the landing pad was a gentle slope upwards, but it was a short distance to the Quinjet. Natasha was waiting impatiently at the ramp to the plane, she had gotten changed into her mission outfit as she was clad in her catsuit.

"Sorry Nat, we walked her straightaway," Clint said and made himself comfortable in the co-pilot seat. I stood there, unsure of what to do.

"You can sit in the passenger seat over there," Natasha said to me, pointing to the seat attached to the wall next to Clint. I smiled as I saw how close my seat was to Clint, meaning I could hold his hand. I sat down straight away as I knew we couldn't waste any time, every minute was precious. After we all strapped ourselves in, the Quinjet took off and started its journey to Stuttgart. A few minutes into our journey, I felt very sick. The bile started rising up my throat, but I choked it down. Clint looked over to me and saw the face I was pulling.

"Travelsick, huh?" 

I nodded softly and brought my hand to my mouth as I felt the bile rising again. Clint got the cue and held me a sick bag which he had pulled out from a compartment under his seat. He looked over to Natasha for an all-clear to unbuckle his seatbelt and moved over to me. As soon as I grabbed the sick bag, I threw up. My throat and nose stung and my eyes watered. Clint handed me a flask of water and rubbed my back as I finished chundering into the bag. Clint took the sick bag and threw it into the onboard incinerator. Clint sat down in the seat next to me and took my hand.

"I'm here for you the whole journey, just before we land I've got to co-pilot again but for the next 2 hours, we're free to move around the plane and do whatever before we start landing," Clint said reassuringly.

"Thanks a lot, honey."

I leaned my head on his shoulder and felt his warm breath tickle my forehead as he leaned down to kiss it. I looked over at Natasha, who looked a little happier than earlier but seemed to find us funny.

"No touchy-touchy please, I'm begging you two. You make me feel so ridiculously single." Natasha groaned, leaning back in her pilot's seat.

"Have you thought about asking Bucky out, he seems to really like you," I said, "You two get along so well."

Natasha smiled at my comment. "I mean, I would, but does he really want me? Probably not. Steve and he are thick and thieves and dating either of them basically means they come as a package deal."

"I'm sure Steve wouldn't mind, as long as you share him," I joked.

"Ask him out when we get back, please!" Clint replied.

Natasha smiled and turned back to the control panels, shoving a pair of headphones onto her head. I took my head off Clint's shoulder and kissed him, his lips melting into mine. I deepened the kiss, my arms wrapping around his neck and his hands ran through my curly hair. I slipped my tongue between his lips and felt the warmth of his mouth near mine. Clint moaned quietly so only I could hear it. I pulled away from him and kissed his neck softly, moving near his collarbone and sucking a hickey onto it. Clint reached for my neck quickly as I pulled back, kissing small kisses along my neck and sucking a hickey onto it as well. We suddenly heard a beep and I saw that the Quinjet was getting close to landing, signalling that Clint had to go back to co-piloting.

"We'll finish this later," Clint whispered as he sat back in his seat and we strapped ourselves in.

The landing didn't make me feel as sick, but I held a sick bag in front of me just in case anyway. As the Quinjet landed with a dull thud, I unstrapped myself and breathed a sigh of relief, I was glad we were on solid ground again. I stood up shakily, stumbling out of the plane. As soon as I touched the ground, my legs stabilised.

"Mental note: you're awful with flying," Clint laughed as he picked up a duffle bag on the way off the plane.

"Thanks for that," I moaned, "A little more sympathy would be appreciated when my stomach feels like it's about to eject itself from my body through my mouth."

A car with blacked-out windows waited outside the Quinjet, a chauffeur waiting next to it.

"That's our ride, we're going to SHIELD's go-to dress shop which conveniently has a branch in this city and also conveniently sells suits and dresses. It's only a few minutes drive, hop in!" Clint said, sliding across the back seats. I hopped in after him, and the chauffeur drove away, knowing where we were going. I presumed he was briefed beforehand where to take us. 

 

 

 


	13. A Ball in Stuttgart

Clint was right, the place was only a few minutes away, and I was glad as I was very excited about choosing out a ballgown. I didn't go to prom when I was enrolled in school, and I regretted that now. I didn't have friends in school but I did enjoy dressing up, I could be such a typical girl when I wanted to. When we walked into the shop, I was hit with a wave of colour and what looked like thousands of dresses and suits. I gripped Clint's hand tightly in excitement. A shop assistant came over straight away.

"How can I help you?" She asked in German. I looked over to Clint, who had no idea what she was saying.

"My boyfriend doesn't speak German, do you speak English?" I replied in German.

"Of course, how may I help?" She switched to English effortlessly.

"We need last-minute outfits to the ball."

"I know what everyone else is wearing, I can help you find a unique outfit! Would you like to follow me, miss, and maybe you can start looking at suits and I'll send a male assistant over?" She suggested to Clint, who nodded and kissed me on the cheek before browsing suits.

"What colours do you prefer the most?" The shop assistant asked.

"Red mostly, though I do also like a bit of navy."

"So darker ones?"

"I find bright colours don't suit me too well."

"Actually, I think a nice mustard yellow would look nice, though I do agree crimson is a good shade for you. I'll find some nice cuts for you, but since you say it's a ball I guess a princess ballgown is the thing you want."

I smile excitedly as she browses the dresses. After a few minutes, she comes back, in her arms are three dresses.

"These are the three colours that will suit you the most. Try the navy one on, then the mustard, then the crimson."

She hung the dresses up in a changing room and I wriggled my way into the first dress.

The navy didn't compliment me the best, and I wasn't fond of the long sleeves. I quickly showed the assistant who agreed with me and moved onto the next dress.

     

I loved the mustard more than the navy, but the top was, again, not what I was looking for. I hoped that the last dress would blow me away. It was my favourite colour, crimson, and was simple but elegant, which is what I wanted.

     

I had to stifle my happiness as I stepped out of the changing room. The dress was beautiful and fitted perfectly. I saw Clint coming out of his changing room, coincidentally in a suit that matched my dress perfectly.

"Clint, I love it!" I cried out.

"What, your dress, my suit, or me?" He joked.

"All of them, this has been a dream to wear a ballgown, I'm so excited!" I twirled in my ballgown as the shop assistant handed me a pair of matching heels and Clint slipped on a pair of brogues to finish his look. He shoved the clothes he was wearing and my clothes into the duffle bag he'd brought off the Quinjet and paid the shop before we left it. As we got back into the car to go to the event, Clint briefed me on what we were doing and handed me a clutch which also included a concealed gun inside.

"If we see Loki, we will try and talk to him, and act like we don't know him. Try and get anything out of him, and he if he seems hostile, contain him. Understood?" Clint stated.

I nodded enthusiastically and felt the anticipation build in me. The centre was in sight now, with a red carpet leading to the stone stairs for the event. As we pulled up, I could see lots of guests already moving into the venue. Then, I spotted a flash of dark hair and realised Loki was moving swiftly into the building.

"He's there," I whispered, "Get us there as quickly as possible, we need to track his moves."

The chauffeur sped up the car and we got out of it faster than I'd ever moved. Once we hit the carpet, we moved at a more normal rate, so we could blend in. I caught a flash of him moving along a corridor off the main hall where everyone was mingling and followed him. 

Before I left to track him down, I turned to Clint again, kissed him on the cheek and whispered, "I'm going in alone, it looks more inconspicuous. I love you."

I strutted down the hall, pulling a slightly lost face to look like I'd just lost my way. Loki was typing something into a device and moved through a door to the left of the corridor. I followed suit.

"Excuse me, could you help me find the bathroom?" I said, slightly slurred to look like I was slightly drunk.

Loki turned quickly, as I realised I was standing in the men's bathroom.

"Wrong room," He muttered and turned back to the device.

"Can you help me..." I started again and he swivelled back around fast, looking at me with a facial expression that looked like he was going to do something bad.

"Lori Wolfe, nice to meet you." He said, and I tried to reach for my purse but it was gone and I saw it in his hands.

"How..."

Suddenly, he multiplied, and one of his copies walked back out of the bathroom, and what I assumed was the original stayed put. I tried to move my hands but they were clamped together with a device that didn't look earthly at all. I tried to use my powers, but they failed to emerge. The technology was inhibiting my powers. I groaned.

"Now, I've got at least one person to blackmail and get SHIELD to back off. From what I've been seeing, SHIELD would do a lot just to get you back, you're an important asset. And that boyfriend of yours? He'd do more than anything." Loki grinned, touched my shoulder and suddenly we were teleported to a dark cell somewhere underground. I could hear the rumble of movement above us but knew too well that Loki wouldn't hide me in an obvious place.

"Now, let me get on with what I was planning to do. Oh, one more thing." He mentioned, magicking a scalpel up. I felt a wave of dread hit me as he placed it to the skin on my forearm, where my tracker was planted. He cut my skin and pulled out my tracker as I gasped in pain. There was no effort to bandage the cut or anything, a small dribble of blood moved down my arm. Loki magicked the scalpel away again and disappeared away, teleporting back to the event. I cried out, hoping someone would hear me. With every tug on the device tying my hands together, it burnt more. I gave up trying as I didn't want to hurt myself even more, especially as the cut on my arm wasn't looking like it was going to stop bleeding in a long time.

 


	14. Really Not Very Happy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter makes me a little sad :(

It felt like hours had passed since Loki disappeared, but I knew it really wasn't. At most an hour, I guessed. The blood was ceasing to stop, and the small trickle of blood continued to move down my arm. It had been gushing long enough to start a puddle on the floor. I knew before long, I'd start feeling weaker from all the blood loss. I laughed at myself for being so stupid, this was my first mission and I'd been the target of a god whose only aim is to achieve world domination. It sounded ridiculous, and somehow I was stuck in the midst of it. I tried to focus on the sounds around me, seeing if it would give me any clues to where I was in the city. I could hear a steady stream of cars above me, meaning I was near the city centre. As I tuned out of my other senses to try and figure out more of my location, Loki appeared in front of me.

"Your little friends have no idea where you are and they think you're dead because your tracker isn't tracking anymore. I guess it's time to torture you then." He sneered. Loki revealed a thick rope and a sharp scalpel and stepped towards me. I looked him dead in the eyes, hoping that I put off a sense of confidence so he wouldn't feel my weakness.

"Trust me, Lori, I know you're weak. I can tell, you don't need to act like you're not." 

Loki's hand stroked my cheek, and I recoiled in disgust as he slapped me hard. He flashed his evil smile and slowly dragged the rope across my face, as I felt the friction build between the rope and my skin. He suddenly dragged it faster and I felt the painfully hot sting of a rope burn across my cheek. Loki then proceeded to wrap the rope around my neck tightly, but I could still comfortably breathe. He took a step back and used his magic to tighten the rope a little more, and I felt my neck muscles unwillingly contract. Loki was left standing in front of me, twirling the scalpel in his hands, smiling like he was going to hurt me a lot. He paced around me and I heard a soft cackle leave his lips as he stopped behind me. The next moment, I felt a pain in my shoulder as he sank the blade into it. I knew well enough where he had hit me would not kill me, but it had definitely broken my top rib. I grunted in pain, trying not to show any emotion as to stop him from hurting me more. Loki paced back around me, holding two more scalpels. The first scalpel he sunk into the arm that was already bleeding again, intense pain rushing through it as he tore through my skin and muscle. I cried out more this time, he seemed to enjoy seeing the suffering I was battling. 

"Let the Avengers take this as a first warning, stay away from me, or there will be further consequences." Loki spat, running the blunt side of the cold blade across my face teasingly and shoving it hard into my thigh. The handcuffs disappeared at the same time.

I felt a warm rush of blood across my thigh, knowing he had hit an artery, also knowing that I didn't have longer than 10 minutes to live. As fast as Loki appeared, he disappeared, and I heard a loud bang and thuds from outside the only door to this dark room. Before I could see who was there, I blacked out from a lack of blood.

3rd person POV:

Tony had blasted a hole into the ground around where Lori's tracker was last tracked, and Clint and Steve quickly moved into the hole, which had revealed a tunnel and a door. Natasha flew the Quinjet above them, waiting for orders. Clint shot an explosive arrow at the door, and it fell open with a bang. Bow ready to shoot, Clint stepped in, Steve closely behind. No more than two steps into the room, Clint stood in shock. Lori was sat on a chair, body hanging limp on the furniture. Clint could see the many knives sticking out of her, and rushed over quickly to check for a pulse.

"There's a pulse, but we're losing her!" Clint cried out, and Steve took the time to pick Lori up and carry her out of the hole, where the Quinjet had just landed.

"We need to get her back to medical as soon as possible," Steve started, "Get Bruce working on resus as soon as we get her on the Quinjet. The closest base is only a few minutes flight, and luckily they've also got a surgical team on standby."

Steve placed Lori on the stretcher inside the Quinjet as Natasha swiftly took off and Bruce injected Lori with some sedatives, before getting out a syringe of medical foam to fill the arterial damage in Lori's leg. At the same time, Clint helped Bruce by hooking her up to the machines. They immediately started beeping in response to her.

"We've lost a heartbeat, get us there faster Nat!" Bruce shouted, starting chest compressions on Lori. The Quinjet sped up and they landed within a minute, the medical team already waiting to take her in.

"She's in hypovolemic shock, we need to get those wounds closed and resuscitate her now," Bruce stated calmly, as the medical team wheeled the stretcher with Lori on it into the building. Clint rushed after them, worried for his girlfriend's life.

"Sorry, you can't come any further now. If you wait here, we'll get back to you." A doctor said as Lori was being pushed into the OP. Clint nodded in apprehension and sat down on one of the chairs, just as Natasha walked into the building and saw Clint. She immediately came over and hugged him.

"I know it's hard, but we've got a brilliant team of doctors working to save her and I'm positive she'll pull through." Natasha consoled.

"She's been having a seriously rocky life at the moment though, I don't like seeing her struggle anyway but for her life? She didn't deserve this."

"No-one deserves having Loki around and we're going to find him and avenge. That's what we do."

Clint let out a sob and sunk into Natasha's arms.

After half an hour, a doctor came out of the surgery to speak to the Avengers who had now taken up most of the waiting room.

"Good news, she's stable," The doctor started, and a collective sigh of relief rang through the room, "Bad news, she's going to be in surgery for a long time. We currently estimate 5 hours, it may be longer. She has a lot of open wounds and fractures we need to fix." With that, the doctor spun on his heels and entered the surgery again.

 

 


	15. Hospitalisation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut warning boyos

_"We've managed to stabilise her and patch her up to the best of our ability."_

_"Thank you for saving her, I don't know what I'd do without her."_

_"Her anaesthetic will wear off soon, I'll have to stay in here to administer painkillers."_

I felt a warm hand touch mine, and my eyes slowly opened. My whole body ached and hurt like nothing I'd ever experienced. I groaned in pain as I managed to look over to whoever was holding my hand. Clint sat in a chair pushed up next to my bed, looking sleep-deprived. The doctor I had heard as I faded out of my anaesthetic quickly rushed over to push a large needle of drugs into the catheter in my injured arm and pulled me into a kind of sideways sitting position that was angled in the opposite direction to Clint.

"What's the damage," I mumbled.

"They fixed the stab wounds in your arm, that severed most of your muscle, the thigh wound basically killed you for a few minutes but they managed to get that back together too, your shoulder wound managed to break a few bones when going in so your back is gonna feel fucked for a while, and those burns are gonna sting like fuckers," Clint replied.

I scanned the room I was laid in, which already had a table full of cards and flowers to my left. I craned my neck painfully to look at the damage on my body. My arm was in a sling to support my back injuries, but also to stop me from moving too much, a thick bandage covered my upper arm. My leg was also wrapped in a thick bandage and propped up with a few pillows. 

"At least I have one arm free." I joked, feeling the pain in my back when I laughed, coughing a little and moaning in pain.

"Stay still and don't do anything, you've got a hell of a long healing time in front of you," Clint said, standing up to reach the medical fridge and pulling out an ice pack and some cream. "I'm meant to help you with your burns by doing this, so you've got to stay extra still."

Clint tenderly kissed me on the forehead before placing the ice pack on my cheek, where the rope burn was located. He held it there tightly before slipping into my bed behind me, wrapping an arm lightly around my stomach.

"Why?"

Clint laughed softly, replying plainly, "Your hospital gown isn't particularly decent from the back and I'm basically giving you decency, also that I wanted to be close to you."

I felt his free hand drift to the back of my gown and touch my ass.

"Fucker," I groaned, not protesting as the touch was nice.

"I'll have a serving of that later please," Clint joked as I felt him stroke it one more time before lifting his other hand to take the ice pack off of my cheek before placing it on the floor next to my bed. He unscrewed the tube of cream and squirted a generous load on his fingers, before touching my burn and distributing it evenly. He stood up, brought the ice pack back to the freezer, cleaned his hands of any product, and picked up an extra-thick blanket on the way back, placing it over me before slipping back behind me.

"I'm tired."

"That'll be the morphine, even though you've just been asleep for 10 hours," Clint whispered, and I cuddled into his body behind me. I closed my eyes quickly as I felt the rush of warmth and exhaustion all over me.

 

I woke up hearing people in my room, arguing quietly. I grumbled as I stirred.

"Well guess who's awake," Tony said, looking over all of the flowers and cards on my table. "Wow, even Fury sent a card, 'Get well soon,  a shitty first mission right?'. Classic."

Steve and Bucky stood next to him. We'd slowly become more acquainted over the last days, as I realised I had more in common with the both of them than I thought. Steve and Bucky each held a bouquet of flowers and a card, funnily enough in the colours of their uniforms. I looked over to the table and realised that everyone's flowers were in the colour of their uniform. Natasha's were black roses, Bruce's green, Tony's yellow and red, Clint's purple (and the biggest), Steve's red, white and blue, and bucky's grey. I also spotted a card from Wanda. 

"Thank you for visiting everyone, it makes me feel loved."

Clint stirred and opened his eyes, sighing when he saw Tony, Bucky and Steve standing there.

"I guess you could say you caught me," He mumbled, "But also this is for Lori's sake, decency and warmth."

"Yeah right, Clint," Tony replied, "I'll let you off though, that was a shock you had with her yesterday."

Clint stood up from my bed, and I heard a low whistle from across the room before Clint threw the covers over my back.

"Yep, I know what you mean now," Tony said.

"Hey, she's mine, no wolf-whistling." Clint teased.

"I came here to say they're transferring you back to New York, for convenience's sake. Since we're all heading back in the next day. They also asked who you'd want accompanying you, I can guess who you'll say..." Tony eyed Clint, who just shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right," I replied, "Though I either want some thicker sheets or more decency because there's no way in hell I'm being wheeled onto a Quinjet looking like this."

Tony threw Clint a large duvet and he placed it over me.

"Satisfied?" Tony asked.

"Ready to leave, Tony," I replied.

 

The transfer from my hospital bed to the transportation stretcher was painful, as my back nearly had the brunt of the damage. Surprisingly, the actual stretcher was very comfortable, and to my relief, it was roomy as well and I thought about Clint cuddling up to me again. He stood next to me the whole time I was transferred into the stretcher and then into the Quinjet. The Quinjet set up for my transfer was definitely specifically for medical transfers, as the cabin area where a dozen seats for agents on each side would be found was converted into what I could only describe as a doctor's surgery on wheels. The stretcher clipped into the centre of the cabin. I saw the cockpit was completely autonomous but also realised Clint could fly planes, so if anything went wrong he'd be there to help. I smiled as I thought about a 4-hour flight with just Clint by my side. The ramp slid shut and the Quinjet started lifting off, Clint sat in a seat at the front of the plane checking everything was okay for us to keep up the journey. I didn't feel particularly sick, as I was pumped with so many painkillers that sickness wasn't going to happen. Once we reached a stable height, Clint came over to me and slid into the stretcher next to me.

"Cuddles?" I asked.

"Of course, especially if it's only us."

I laughed at his remark but accepted it. He playfully twirled my hair between his fingers and ran his other hand under the sheets, it finally meeting my stomach. His hands were cold so I gasped a little.

"Hey, I'm still injured," I complained.

"Shhh, some endorphins and adrenaline won't do you any harm."

He moved his hand under my gown, running a finger up my abdomen to my sternum, tracing little circles along the way. His other hand slipped under the covers and he placed it lightly on my chest. His hands drifted to each breast and stroked them. I mumbled in agreement.

"How far do you want to go?" Clint whispered.

"Well you're not fucking me in a Quinjet whilst I'm severely injured. Also that you've never fucked me, it should probably wait." I blabbered, but I was cut off by Clint kissing my neck and sucking more hickeys onto it. I moaned softly.

Clint continued moving his hands on my breasts, kneading them gently as my breath hitched. He took a nipple between his fingers and rolled it teasingly, my body getting increasingly sweatier and damper. One of his hands wandered back towards my ass, feeling the shape and texture of it.

"You're so perfect, Lori," Clint whispered in my ear as his fingers trailed further down.

As his fingers stroked my unharmed thigh, his other hand reached down and spread my legs apart a little more, making sure my thigh wound wasn't aggravated. His hand drifted further between my legs, stopping before hitting any skin. I felt the heat from between them, knowing it was steamy down there. As he suddenly ran a finger across my clit, I gasped loudly. His fingers danced between my legs, teasing my clit as I moaned loudly. He pulled his fingers away from me, licking them sufficiently.

"You already taste so good."

Clint's fingers ran back between my legs and he pushed a finger in, darting it in and out slowly. I felt him gyrate his hips on my back very subtly before sticking a second finger in, causing me to moan loudly again. As he picked up speed with his fingers, I moved my hips in the rhythm, feeling an orgasm building up within me. With one last movement, I felt the tension release from my body and Clint pull his fingers up to his mouth to taste me again. As my breathing stabilised, I felt a solid protrusion near my ass and smiled a little.

"You're welcome to resolve it, I just can't really turn around to," I whispered, as Clint pressed himself to my back, moving his hips at me again. I heard him unzip his trousers and grab his erection, starting to resolve the problem with his hand whilst lightly humping me. I heard his breathing hitch suddenly and a long, drawn-out moan exit his mouth as he orgasmed. The bedsheets felt sufficiently damp between the both of us.

"Well, that happened," I laughed, realising it hurt when I laughed and regretting it instantly, wheezing.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me do that, was waiting for that for a while. Tony was totally cockblocking me when I was in the medical centre back there."

Clint checked his watch, realising we only had an hour before we were on solid ground.

"Urgh, it's still an hour until we land. I want to be officially allowed to sleep in the same bed as you in Avengers Tower," Clint groaned, "Oh and I was meant to ask. Are you a virgin, do you have any STDs, and are you on any birth control?"

I smiled at his bluntness. "Kinda, no, and yes."

"Elaborate."

"Fine, mister, but you'll need to tell me the same afterwards too. Never been past third base, definitely don't have any STDs, and I've got an IUD."

"Been to fourth base, thank God me neither, and I'm a man."

"Guess you'll be my first then," I said.

"Hopefully."

"Cmon, I'm tired, give me the last hour to nap before I'm inconveniently moved from another bed again."

Clint moved off of the stretcher, kissing my forehead.

"Night, I love you."

 

 


	16. Reacquainting Myself With the Medical Centre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, did you hear that? That noise in the distance? They're screams of shock as I release three decently-sized chapters in a day. You're welcome, folks.

I only woke up when I felt the stretcher I was on lurch forwards as someone pushed me out of the Quinjet. I grumbled disapprovingly and tried to pull the blanket over my head, struggling when my injured arm throbbed again. After fiddling around with the blanket for a while, I closed my eyes and tried to take another nap. The stretcher rattled along the ground and into the elevator, and before long I was already pushed inside the medical room I'd be staying in for the next days at Avengers Tower. Someone pulled the blanket off of me, and I groaned loudly.

"Cmon, they need to move you to your new room, also I'm sure after wearing that horrific hospital gown for a bit you want to get some clean clothes," Clint said.

"Urgh, fine." I waited for the staff to finish preparing my bed and a wheelchair that was meant to take me into the bathroom to clean up. When they finished, two nurses lifted me into the wheelchair and disconnected me from all the monitors on the stretcher. The male nurse left the room, and I was left with a female nurse and Clint.

"Hi, I'm Alicia, I'm going to be redoing your dressings and help you clean up a bit before you get back into bed," The nurse said, wheeling me into the bathroom. Clint followed us, as he knew I wouldn't have a problem with him helping me out.

"Clint, with all due respect I know you two are a couple, but you should probably ask Lori if she's alright with you helping out," Alicia said, opening a chest of drawers in the bathroom to get a set of towels.

"I'm good, he knows that," I replied, "He's allowed with me anywhere."

"Okay, well then make yourself handy and pull that trolley in here," Alicia said to Clint, who took her orders.

Clint got into the bathroom and Alicia closed the door behind us, turning the sign on the outside to show that we're busy in here.

"I'm going to get your hospital gown off now and clean you a bit, you're too early into recovery to be able to have baths."

Alicia untied the strings holding my gown together at the back, and slowly pulled the gown off, manoeuvering it so that my injured arm wouldn't have to move much. Without the gown covering me, I could see the bruises across my skin and the bandages caked in old blood. Alicia reached to unravel the bandage on my leg, and I winced as the caked blood pulled at my skin. Once my leg was free, I could see the extent of the damage. My whole thigh was significantly weaker-looking, the muscle smaller and the wound having at least 30 stitches along the wound. 

"Ouchie," I said.

 "Definitely, I'm not surprised they put you on morphine," Alicia replied, getting an antiseptic wipe and starting to clean around the wound. "Clint, do you mind getting the sponge on the trolley and starting to clean the rest of Lori?"

I looked down at my legs again, realising I had a urinary catheter.

"Well, explains why I haven't needed to pee lately."

Clint laughed and brought the wet sponge to my other leg, gently scrubbing any signs of dirt off it. Alicia finished cleaning the wound and proceeded to apply a new bandage onto my leg. By the time Alicia had finished the bandage, Clint had managed to scrub all of my first leg and nearly finished the leg that had just been re-bandaged. Alicia unwrapped the wound on my upper arm, and I saw a similar situation as my thigh. Weak muscle, lots of stitches, bruising. The more everyone worked on cleaning me up, the more I zoned out and didn't realise what was happening. Only when Alicia had tapped me on the leg to snap me out of it I realised I'd zoned out.

"Sorry, I just zoned out a bit. I'm here again."

Alicia looked at me with a hint of concern in her face but continued to help me. "Luckily SHIELD had provided you with something more than a hospital gown, lucky you, there is even a pair of underwear! Unfortunately, getting them on is the hard part, since your injured leg is allowed and has limited movement. The easiest thing to do is to get Clint to lift you once we get the underwear and trousers onto you, and I can pull them up."

Clint got the cue and once the garments were over my feet, he carefully lifted me up by my waist as I wasn't injured there and Alicia pulled them up. 

"We've got to take your arm support off to get your top on quickly," Alicia said, undoing the velcro of my support and holding my arm in the same position as it was held by it. "Your shoulder's the worst part so we can't move your arm too much or it'll go out of place again."

Alicia coughed for Clint to pass over the top and put it over my head, as Alicia moved my wounded arm in such a way as to not hurt me a lot or aggravate the injury. Finally, the feat of cleaning me up was done, and we collectively sighed in relief.

"Well, that was fun." I joked.

"We've got to do that again in a few days, prepare yourselves you two," Alicia replied, throwing the waste into a bin in the trolley. "Though we might as well get rid of that catheter now, you're basically always guaranteed to have someone there to help you to the bathroom."

Alicia pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and walked over to me.

"This may feel a little uncomfortable, but it'll be quick."

Alicia reached down to pull the catheter out steadily, and it felt weird extracting a rubber tube from my bladder, but the sensation was quickly gone as she disposed of the device.

"All done, you'll just be on bed rest for at least a few more days before we try to give you some physiotherapy and help restore some of the strength in your arms and legs."

"Thanks so much."

Alicia wheeled me back into my room, where Clint helped her put me back into the hospital bed. Clint lovingly tucked me in.

"You know I was so worried I'd lose you the night we found you," Clint said.

"I know, all the time I spent in that horrible room, having nothing said to me except what he's doing is a warning for the Avengers to stay away from him, made me think I was going to die right there. I haven't lived a life, I haven't experienced so many things that I want to see and do, hell I haven't even had a proper SHIELD mission at this point. I want to spend my life with you, I know it's really soon and we've known each other for a month, dated for two weeks, but I've never felt the way I'm feeling when I'm around you. It's like a rainbow has suddenly risen through all the rainclouds around me." I started sobbing uncontrollably as I realised how close I'd come to not even being alive this day. Clint immediately hugged me.

As I started crying, Steve entered, he was taken aback by my sobbing. 

"Is everything okay here?" He asked cautiously.

"Uh..." I sniffled, "I don't know really. It's only just hit me that if you hadn't found me when you did I'd be dead, I want to live my life and that nearly didn't happen."

"I understand what you mean. When I thought I'd lost Bucky, I didn't know what to do. I cared for him like he was my older brother, and I felt hopeless without him. When I was found in the ice and I was woken up, I felt like I'd lost everything I grew up with, just because of the 70 years between when I was frozen and woken up. Sometimes you don't know where you're going or what's going to happen but in the moments where you can make memories and experiences take those and keep them in your heart. You won't regret these things as they are all memories. I'm making memories with everyone know, I have my best friend back, I feel like I've found my calling and my family." 

I could see Steve getting a little teary-eyed, and ushered him over for a hug.

"We're all a family now, we might have biological families but this feels like more than a family than I've ever had."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone appreciates that cute ending to the chapter, this stuff is what's actually coming from me so I stand by those words. Take every moment and enjoy it, make memories, and don't take things for granted.


	17. Recovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one, but I needed to progress to story a little faster so there's a time jump in here!

Soon after we all finished crying about the last day's events and realising that we cared about each other far more than I'd realised, Alicia came back into the room to reattach me to all the machines and make sure I got nutrition. Steve left shortly before she entered the room.

"Right, so we're going to finish hooking you up and then you'll be all set to get some nutrition into you. The less energy you have, the longer it'll be for you to recover."

Alicia reattached the EKG to me and switched the machine back on. She also attached a finger monitor. Finally, the IV I was attached to was reattached, the sharp prick of the needle entering my arm was nothing to the pain I'd endeared in the last day. There was still a catheter in my hand to administer medication.

"We're decreasing your dose of morphine, but if your pain isn't being helped then let us know and we can increase it again. You won't be able to take having solid food yet, so we've got to insert a feeding tube, it goes down your nose so it may feel a little uncomfortable at first, but the more regularly you get nutrients administered, the faster you'll be able to eat properly again. We'll start you on soft foods like yoghurt and soup in two days if it works out."

I squeezed Clint's hand in the excitement of making progress in my recovery.

"Right, so I'll attach your feeding tube now, you've got to stay really still so I can do it quickly."

Alicia moved towards me with a tube resembling the catheter I had removed earlier, but longer so it could reach my stomach. I tilted my head up for her to insert the tube, and it tickled as it passed into my stomach.

"All done."

I thanked Alicia again and turned to Clint to see how he was doing. Whilst I was being hooked up, he had pulled out two gift boxes, one was medium-sized and had a striped lid, the other was a small jewellery box.

"I got you some things. I hope you like them."

I eagerly opened the larger box first and gasped when I saw a Nintendo Switch.

"For the long days in bed, you can invite people over to play with you." Clint smiled.

I kissed him on the cheek and grinned.

"Thank you so much, you're the best boyfriend."

"I know," Clint laughed, "Cmon, open the other one."

I undid the bow around the jewellery box and opened the lid. Clint reached into the box and took the item out.

"Hold out your left hand."

I shakily held out my hand and let Clint slip the ring on my finger.

"I've really had this sitting in my top drawer since the first week we met, I knew I wanted to give you a promise ring so you'd always have a part of me with you when I'm not there. The ring is made from the metal of one of my arrows, the stone is amethyst, purple to represent me. Don't worry, I had the same made for me but with a ruby to represent you."

I leant over to him and kissed him on the lips as I felt a small tear run down my cheek.

"I don't know how I've deserved someone as generous and loving as you," I sobbed.

"You deserve everything, you're the most amazing person I've met in a long, long time. I love you."

I kissed Clint again, ruffling his hair lightly.

"Not gonna lie, I want to get out of this room, at least if you wheel me around in a wheelchair I can go check out how everyone is doing."

"Well, I'll see what I can do."

Ten minutes later, a nurse had transferred all the devices I was hooked up to into the wheelchair and lifted me in. Clint had tucked a thick blanket around my legs to keep me warm.

"Let's go see everyone, it seems like everyone visited me when I was unconscious, gotta make sure my new family are good too."

Clint pushed me into the elevator and it slid down the shaft to the Avengers' living quarters. As the doors opened, I saw most of the Avengers sitting around the kitchen table, Steve cooking brunch. 

"Guess who's here?" I joked as I was pushed into the room.

Everyone turned to look and moments later, everyone was chatting excitedly, happy to see me.

"We missed you," Natasha said.

Bruce looked up from his plate of waffles and smiled.

"Glad to see you're recovering," Bruce mumbled through a mouthful of waffle.

Steve smiled at me and threw another waffle onto a plate next to the waffle maker.

"Waffle?" He asked, handing the plate to Bucky.

I pointed at my feeding tube and shook my head. "Can't eat anything solid for another few days."

"Shame, I make good waffles."

In unison, the people sitting around the table murmured an "agreed".

"I'll be back when I can eat, I have a feeling I'm going to get very sick of tube food and yoghurt," I laughed.

 

Fast forward a week later:

"It looks like you'll be able to move short distances with a crutch, over time you'll have to rely on it less and less, but we can't give you two because of the injuries sustained to your shoulder and arm."

The physiotherapist had been helping me heal faster, and today I had managed to move fairly effortlessly with a crutch for the first time. I smiled at my progress.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to use this opportunity to zoom around and hang about in everyone's rooms."

"Just don't try and strain yourself, if you feel tired or achy then just take a break."

I nodded and stood up, leaning on the crutch that supported me, and carefully making my way out of the physio room, located conveniently on the training floor, so only a floor away from the living quarters. Clint was waiting for me outside, as this was the session that told me if I could be walking instead of using a wheelchair for short to medium distances. As I stepped out of the room, Clint smiled.

"I see the tough cookie is allowed on her feet now!"

"Yup, though I'm not meant to overexert myself."

"I'm sure getting into bed and staying still whilst I do whatever makes you scream the loudest is not overexerting." Clint joked.

"Shhh, I've heard the rest of the crew making bets on when or if we've already fucked, and it's low-key embarrassing because every time I end up going to your room or you come to mine I get about 5 texts from each Avenger asking if we're getting at it."

"Well since you've been cleared, wanna stop those rumours?"

Clint winked at me, and we moved into the elevator, trying to get to my room as soon as possible.


	18. The Back of the Top Drawer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know y'all like a bit of smut, so here's the moment you've been waiting for. I'm generally pretty not okay with writing smut but it seems to boost reads so you're welcome.

I scanned my hand on my door keypad and the door slid open. It was pretty clean, a little dust building on some surfaces. I threw my crutch to the side as Clint closed the door behind us and he lifted me up, pushing me onto the kitchen counter. Since I'd been discharged for just under two days now, I was finally in control of what I was wearing and anticipating what could happen today, I made sure my best lingerie was on. Clint kissed me roughly, nipping my bottom lip as I wrapped my arms around his neck. The hickey I had given him on the flight to Stuttgart was faded to a faint yellow mark. I smiled as I pulled away from him, sucking a large hickey on his neck. Clint took the opportunity to do the same to me, nipping at my neck and sucking a trail across it. I breathed heavily and pulled back from his neck.

"Get me into my bedroom," I whispered into his ear.

Clint carefully lifted me by my arms and waist, making sure not to grab my shoulder, as the healing was still yet to finish, and walked into my bedroom, kissing me as he went. He kicked the door closed behind him and placed me on the bed. I hadn't worn my swankiest outfits lately as I was constantly in and out of different medical rooms to make sure my recovery. Today I had gone a little more out-there, wearing a bodysuit under a pair of shorts, looking rather normal for a NY girl but leaving some things to Clint's imagination. Clint sat on the edge of the bed with me and started making out with me again, sneakily slipping a hair tie in my hair to get it out of the way. His hands wandered to the straps of my bodysuit and he pulled it down, not realising that it was a bodysuit and not just a top when he tried to pull it away.

"Undo the crotch clasps," I whispered into his ear whilst he moved his hands down.

His hand wandered into my shorts and fumbled briefly at the poppers before undoing the rest of the bodysuit, teasingly stroking between my legs as he pulled his hand out to pull my shorts down. As he carefully lifted the bodysuit over my head, I started unbuttoning the shirt he had on, releasing him of his top as well. His chest was still well-toned and I felt the warmth radiating off his body. I was left sitting in my lingerie. I had chosen the lacy plum set, which consisted of a very sparing bra and a matching thong.

"I see you made an effort today," Clint started, moving his hands onto my back, "You look good in anything and nothing."

I smiled at his comment and he took the opportunity to unclasp my bra. It fell onto my lap and I was quick to fling it to the side. I laid down on the bed and Clint pulled off his jeans before straddling me. He kissed my neck again, before making his way down my body, stopping at my breasts. His warm breath tickled my skin before one hand moved to my right breast and his mouth locked around my left one. I moaned quietly as Clint moved his tongue across my sensitive nipple. His hands ran down my torso and gripped around my underwear, tearing it in half straightaway. I gasped and heard Clint laugh softly before he brought his head down to my waist. As he kissed between my legs, I moaned again, as he carried on working his magic. 

"Condoms, and lube?"

"Top drawer for both, condoms are somewhere at the back, never had to use them."

Clint quickly stood up and reached into the drawer, ruffling through it quickly before finding the pack of condoms and lube, tearing off one and opening the wrapper. He came and sat down in front of me again, pulling his boxers down and his erection springing out. He rolled the condom on and squirted a generous amount of lube onto his hand to coat my entrance and his bulging erection.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" Clint asked cautiously.

"Yes, I want you."

"Alright, tell me if you want me to stop anytime."

Clint moved above me, spreading my legs apart and positioning himself. He slowly moved into me, I felt my walls stretch, but not uncomfortably. I groaned as he inserted himself fully. Slowly, he moved in and out, starting to moan himself. The pace picked up eventually, his arms pinning me down at the waist as he slammed his hips into mine. I cried out as we both reached our peak, orgasming simultaneously. Clint's pace slowed and he pulled out, panting heavily.

"Oh my, I've been missing out," I mumbled as Clint pulled the condom off and threw it in the bin. I wrapped my arms around Clint to kiss him and pulled the sheets over us.

"Let us have a midday nap," Clint said, cuddling up to me as we drifted into a light sleep.


	19. Bets

I was woken up by Clint shaking me.

"Come on, they called a meeting and we're already late!

I grumbled as Clint threw my clothes back at me. He pulled on his own clothing in record time so he could shake me again until I got up.

"Basically everyone will know what we did now, gee thanks," Clint joked, pulling me up and shoving my undergarments into my hands. 

I grumbled again and managed to get my clothing on. Clint was already holding my crutch, and he shoved it into my hands.

"Cmon, we'll get there faster if I carry you."

Clint crouched so I could piggyback him, and he jogged me down the hall to the conference room. As we entered, Tony look at us quizzically.

"Nice to finally see you two, let me assume what you did, finally fucked?" Tony laughed.

I rolled my eyes and sat down.

"First time getting off though? That's what I need to know."

I rolled my eyes again and looked over at Clint.

"Nat, you owe me," Tony said, looking over at Natasha, who also rolled her eyes.

"Thought you'd have done it earlier, milaya," Natasha whispered.

I could feel the awkward tension rising in the room, Bruce looked like he was about to sink through his seat in embarrassment.

"Shall we get on with the meeting then?" I suggested.

"Fine. We've got a new lead on Loki, he's been spotted in a motel in the middle of the Mojave Desert. We're sending the whole team out, so we can surround him and capture him."

I interrupted him quickly, "We can't go after him. He threatened me with my life."

"You're staying here, besides if we don't get him now we'll never capture him. We've got triple the amount of Avengers and a whole backup team. Trust me, we'll send you regular updates."

"I know what Loki can do to people, I don't want anyone hurt..."

Thor interrupted me. "I believe my brother has some horrible tricks up his armsleeves, but with such a large team we will surely take him down, milady."

I sighed and agreed with them, I knew there was no use in trying to discourage them as I was one person and they were many.

"We leave in an hour, wear your suits and pack your weapons. There are currently new prototypes of everyone's mains in the weapon room, go and collect them before meeting me at the Quinjet. Dismissed." Tony said, before being the first person to leave too.

As the rest of the team poured out, I pulled Clint aside.

"I still don't have a good feeling about all of this, but call me and text me as much as possible so I know you're alright. Seeing as you basically haven't left my side for weeks it's gonna be hard," I laughed but I felt a tear trickle down my face and Clint wiped it away immediately.

"I'm always there with you, that's why I gave you the ring. If anything happens, tell JARVIS to send out a Code White. There are enough guards around, call for one if anything happens."

Clint kissed me on the cheek.

"I've got to go pack up, meet you outside?"

I nodded and moved towards the elevator, my crutch supporting my slow movements. As I walked into the elevator, Natasha was already standing in it.

"How'd you finish so quickly?" I asked.

"The bag was already packed and ready," Natasha replied.  

The elevator doors slid shut, and Natasha turned to me.

"You're telling me that you didn't have sex with Clint until today?"

"I'm sure, though I have no idea why everyone's obsessed with mine and Clint's sex lives."

"Mainly because of the way you act around him, we've known him longer than you have and we're like family, it's nice to see Clint have a happy life for once, his childhood was pretty tough. Also, I know you were a virgin, it's pretty obvious once you know what you're looking for."

I cringed, "Really? That's so embarrassing, at least you can't hold that against me anymore."

Natasha laughed as the doors slid open, "Milaya, you have no idea how many men I've had to sleep with for missions, I've lost count at this point."

She gave me a hand getting out of the elevator and I caught sight of the Quinjet being finished for flight. Tony pointed SHIELD operatives around angrily when handling his gear incorrectly.

"That's an expensive piece of tech, I don't care if you're strong or not, you're gripping it with two hands!"

I laughed at Tony's attitude. Bruce was leaning in the doorway of the Quinjet, staring into the distance.

"Bruce isn't very happy about being sent out, he's had the big guy in control for a while that he doesn't want to let him loose again," Natasha said, rummaging through her bag to find the items that slotted into her many holsters.

"I can understand that though, it must've been hard for him all this time keeping something in control that was part of him. Guess who can relate!" I joked, mimicking shooting energy out of my hands.

"You should speak to him more, I think you two would get along pretty well. Maybe you'll be the one to convince him to have a bit more fun, he wallows in a lab nearly as much as Tony when he's working on things."

I saw the last few items being loaded onto the Quinjet, hearing the elevator doors slide open again. Soon after, I felt a tight hug around my waist and the person spun me around.

"Clint, I'm still not fully recovered!" 

Clint laughed and placed me down again. 

"Who can blame me for that, I don't know how long I'll be gone yet and I'm going to miss you terribly." He did puppy-dog eyes jokingly.

I slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Behave, or next time I'll be swapping you out with Lucky, who I'm currently missing. Hope he's at least having fun settling in with your old buddy."

He smiled at my comment on the dog, looking over to the Quinjet, where everyone was finally congregating. Steve and Bucky had arrived at the plane moments after Clint, Thor was pacing along the roof of the tower.

"Looks like it's my time to go," Clint said sadly. He took my hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing my ring. "At least you have a little bit of me with you."

I lifted his hand, "So do you."

I looked over to the Avengers, who had picked up on the fact we were both wearing rings, I heard a whisper between them. I kissed Clint one last time before he walked over to the group as they all boarded. I watched them take off, the Quinjet was an agile plane which took off vertically, and it soared into the distance quickly, leaving my field of view within a minute. I turned to go back to the living quarters. The next few days would be boring, I at least hoped I'd be cleared to do some light exercise tomorrow so I wasn't sitting on my ass the whole time.


	20. A Turn of Events

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long time to update, I didn't really know how to write this chapter as it's a sensitive topic but it had to happen for certain plot elements to develop in the future of this book. If you're triggered by mentioning of rape then skip the rest of the chapter from "Who are you". There isn't any actual depiction, it is just implied. If you are sensitive to the topic then I'd suggest skipping the next chapter I'm releasing too as it is mentioned again.

"Well, as long as you're not doing intense training, some light exercise won't do you any harm."

I cheered silently at the news, handing over my crutch and whooping as I left the doctor's office. Just two days after the rest of the team had left for the mission, I'd been cleared. I wouldn't have to spend my days lounging around and mucking around with the algorithms I hadn't touched in a while. As much as it was fun, without an intention for the code I hadn't found much inspiration. I did program some overrides into JARVIS though, in case I needed them...

I almost skipped to the gym, looking forward to doing my usual running machine and bopping along to classic rock songs. I stepped onto the running machine and flicked through the music. I eagerly pressed on The Middle by Jimmy Eat World, starting to move. My slow walk moved into a brisk walk, a jog then a run.

_It just takes some time,_

_Little girl, you're in the middle of the ride,_

_Everything, everything will be just fine,_

_Everything, everything will be alright..._

I got into the rhythm of the running, feeling the beats as I moved. I felt the subtle aching in my leg amplify to more of a pain, which gave me the signal I had done enough exercise for today. I stepped off the running machine, picking up the towel I had thrown on top of my gym bag to dry the sweat off my forehead. I picked up my belongings, heading into the gym showers to clean myself off. 

Seeing as no-one else was really around, I was okay with using them, as generally there is limited privacy. I placed my gym bag outside the cubicle, pulling out my shower products and towel, hanging those inside the cubicle itself. I pulled my sports bra and sports leggings off, hanging them at the entrance of the cubicle. The showers were probably the nicest ones in the whole city, with a large rain head suspended in the ceiling above the cubicle. The floor throughout the shower room was quartz, I couldn't even imagine having this kind of luxury five years ago. I pressed the button and the shower turned on, dousing me in a comfortably warm layer of water. I hummed the tune of Singing in the Rain to myself as I detangled my curly hair with my fingers. I reached for the shampoo and squeezed a generous amount into my hand before covering my hair in the liquid. I washed it out quickly, turning off the shower and wrapping my hair and body into a towel. I stepped out of the shower, heading for the changing rooms to get back into my clothes. I picked up my gym bag and strolled to the changing room, pulling on my clothes and towel drying my hair to an extent. My hair was always a source of insecurity, it was thick and curly, I had been told my father was of Arabic descent so I had inherited some of his genes. I had finally learnt to accept my hair was as it is, even if it took more effort than others to manage. In general, because of the constant abuse I'd get from my foster family, I had lost a lot of confidence. Now I was gone, I didn't have to defend myself every minute of the day and hope that I'd be allowed to eat. I felt emotional seeing how wonderful my life had become, I had everything I needed and wanted and a team that feels like a family already.

As I walked back towards my room, I felt someone hug me from behind suddenly. I spun around to see who it was, smiling as I caught sight of Clint.

"I'm back early!" He said excitedly.

As much as I felt happy to see him, something was off.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Yep, they sent me back early as they've got everything covered. Seems Loki isn't as dangerous as everyone's making him out to be."

Clint wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed me heavily, I had never felt him kiss this sloppily but I kissed him back.

"Well, seeing as we're here alone, we've got something to do?" Clint smirked.

 

 

My heart rate was still high from what we had done, Clint had put so much power into it that my whole body ached and I felt all my muscles screaming in pain. Clint tucked me in and whispered a quick "Goodnight" before leaving for his room again. It seemed a bit odd to me, as he knew he was welcome to stay the night, but I didn't question his choices. I closed my eyes and took a well-deserved nap.

When I woke up again, I had an awful feeling someone was staring at me. As I focused on the room, I saw a figure looming in the doorway. Uneasily, I reached for the gun under my pillow. As the person stepped out of the shadows, I saw it was Clint again. I still didn't have a good feeling.

"Shh, it's just me." He purred, stepping forwards again. 

I pulled the gun from under my pillow, holding it at him. 

"Who are you? You're not my Clint."

A cackle escaped from his lips and a veil of magic stripped off him, revealing Loki standing in front of me. I started shaking uncontrollably, my arms trembling and dropping the gun.

"Why... why..." I cried out, feeling energy rushing to my hands.

"The team clearly didn't hear my first warning, maybe having you violated will give them a moment to rethink."

As I felt my powers working, he disappeared. The beam of energy hit the door, shattering the frame. I started sobbing uncontrollably, fearing the worst of the situation. As I sat trembling uncontrollably in my bed, I heard the engines of the Quinjet above me and the soft thud of the machine landing on the roof. Shortly after, there was frantic knocking at the door and several people shouting.

"Lori, we know Loki was here, open up!"

"We should've listened to you, we need to know you're okay!"

I heard the voices die down and an override command being typed into the door's keypad before it burst open, Tony and Clint standing shocked in the room as I kept on sobbing.

 


	21. Violation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been on holiday so I couldn't update because I didn't have access to my laptop! I've got work experience from Monday so this may be the last update for a week again, sorry readers.

 

"Get away from me." I snarl, sending a small blast of energy to their side in a warning to them.

I see Tony click a button on his belt and his portable suit folded itself around him, protecting him. 

"Hey Clint, I'd get back." He stated before raising his hands, ready to defend himself. Clint stepped back slightly, trusting I wouldn't hurt him. 

"Go away, I don't need either of you here, how do I know you're you?" I cried out.

"Because I'm me, Tony Stark," Tony replied.

I rolled my eyes and shot a beam of energy at him, knocking him back into Clint.

"Fuck off."

Tony didn't back off.

"Last warning."

He didn't budge. I shot another beam of energy at the large glass window, sprinting for the window and launching myself out. I trusted my gut instinct that I'd be fine as I tumbled through the air at the ground at an alarming rate. Just before I was about to hit the ground, I felt a rush of energy from below me and I stopped in my descent. I was hovering above the ground, my energy stopping me from hitting it. I felt my neck ache from the whiplash I had just gotten from stopping so quickly. The people below me were already gathering, whispering amongst each other in shock. I could see Tony flying towards me at a fast rate and moved back into the sky and zoomed off. As I flew through the cloud cover, I checked to see if Tony was still following me. Luckily he wasn't and I loosened my concentration. My stomach dropped as I realised I was tumbling back down to earth. I tried to gain composure but I couldn't stabilise myself. I screamed as I fell to earth, only to be caught by a muscular man as I broke the cloud cover. Thor had caught me.

"Milady, please let me take you to Asgard, there are some people who want to speak to you," Thor said.

I nodded and his hammer pulled him through the cloud cover again. I watched the clouds disappear beneath me and a bridge of rainbow form above us, Thor flying along effortlessly. I saw the golden speck at the end of the bridge grow larger and larger until we suddenly came to a stop at the last stretch, giving me enough time to process what was in front of me.

What sat in front of me, surrounded by smaller buildings reflecting the golden shine of it, was a palace. The whole palace was clad in the purest gold and rose far into the sky, taking up most of the space within the gates of Asgard. My jaw dropped and I could hear a low laugh escape Thor's lips.

"Welcome to Asgard, this is my home. My mother is expecting you, my father is not so happy to have a Midgardian in our palace. He is very traditional in his ways."

I was still speechless so only managed to nod. We walked the last stretch to the gates, where guards clad in golden armour stood. As soon as they caught sight of Thor, they bowed.

"Welcome home, Thor."

The gates to the palace opened and revealed an interior that was at least equally as spectacular as the exterior. Everything was gold, towering pillars held the high roof up. As I followed Thor, I caught sight of a woman dressed in robes walking towards us. As she stopped in front of us, she kissed Thor on the forehead as he bent down and smiled brightly. I immediately saw the similarities between her and Thor, realising it was Frigga. After she greeted Thor, she turned to me.

"Lori, my dear, please follow me." Her gesture was warm and motherly, I felt a certain happiness rise in me.

I followed Frigga into a room down one of the many corridors, which was a room filled with bottles and potions.

"Please sit down, I need to talk to you a bit. Don't worry, I won't harm you." Frigga said, sitting in one of the chairs in the room and pointing to another.

I sat down quickly, slightly apprehensive but trusting in her.

"So I know what happened with Loki, I just wanted to check you're unharmed. His magic is potent and he might've planted poison or something in you."

I shakily smiled, feeling uneasy. Frigga reached out to take my hand, holding it between her warm hands. I felt a shiver run through me and realised she was using magic.

"Ah, I see you possess magic too. Different though, energy magic." 

I nodded in response.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Frigga asked.

"Bad please, I can't stand bad news."

Frigga breathed in heavily and started. "I've found traces of poison within your system, they have formed themselves into a snake. Very small within you, but once it is extracted it will double in size. I am able to extract it, slowly, though the form will never be able to totally detach from you entirely in a sort of bond, I am able to turn it so it isn't poisonous or dangerous. Take it as getting a new pet. Luckily for you, what has been done will not have had the same impact on you as on a standard Midgardian. You may not have survived with the poison very much longer without Thor here either, you'd better thank him later."

I smiled shakily. "Well, that's a thing."

Frigga laughed softly and stood up, reaching for some bottles and mixing them swiftly. "Quite the ailment, isn't it? I'm disappointed Loki has come to this, as much as he loves me, he won't listen."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Frigga handed me a potion bottle of a concoction.

"Drink it, by the time you wake up it'll all be sorted." She said softly.

I pressed the bottle to my lips and gulped the whole thing, placing it on the table once it was drained. The liquid ran a cold, tingling sensation through my veins before I saw dark specks flow through my veins, heading for my core. As the last particles floated to my centre, I felt the need to be sick.

"It's okay, that's the poison amalgamating, you've gotta throw it up." Frigga pats my back and I lurch and throw up on the floor. The dark splodge that came out of me quickly shifted into a dark snake, which looked like when it was curled up it would fit into my palm. I immediately recognised it as a small sunbeam snake as the sunlight caught its scales and it reflected a rainbow of colours, oil spill-like. I held my hand out cautiously and it slithered up my arm, curling around my upper arm like a cuff, flicking its tongue softly.

Frigga smiled. "I think he likes you, Lori. He also tells me his name is Enar, which means warrior."

I run a hand along Enar, feeling his scales beneath my fingertips.

_I am your warrior._

I jumped slightly as I hear a low voice resonate in my head. I knew it wasn't spoken, so I looked down to Enar.

"I forgot to mention that since you two have a bond, you can speak without opening your mouth to each other. Other..." Frigga paused, "Effects, may encompass sharing of powers and emotions. You two are one, after all. Let me try something."

Frigga picked up a small needle and quickly pressed it to the skin of my hand, in surprise I cried out. Enar tensed around my arm and hissed in discomfort.

"Ah, yes. There you see your connection of emotions." 

I started laughing, realising how insanely crazy the situation was, Frigga only smiling.

"Well, if that is all, I believe you have a bit of talking to do to your teammates in Midgard. If you ever need our support, just give us a call."

Frigga embraced me quickly and lead me back to Bifrost, where a man in golden armour waited.

"This is Heimdall, he will open the gate to send you back."

I nodded at Heimdall, shot an appreciative look to Frigga and stepped forward, as a jet of light engulfed my body. Seconds later, my body dropped to the roof of the Avengers Tower.

 

 


	22. An Explanation

I stroll into the shared living space, acting if nothing has happened. Tony cocked an eyebrow at me as he saw the snake wrapped around my arm.

"Are you gonna tell us what happened?" Tony asked, taking a sip from the glass in front of him.

"No, well not now, I'm not entirely ready for you to know it," I simply replied.

Tony smiled in annoyance and I turned to look who else was in the room. 

"Bruce is in the lab, as usual, everyone else went out to find you. I stayed back to make sure the building wouldn't collapse on itself with that hole in your room."

I grimaced. "Sorry for that Tony."

"I'll call the others to let them know you're back." 

As Tony walked out of the room, I heard his voice from outside the living room, rambling about my re-appearance. I made my way to the fridge, pulling out a pre-made sandwich and shoving it in my mouth straight away. I was about to ask Enar if he wanted anything to eat, but I heard the voice in my head again.

_I don't eat, I'm a sentient being._

"Gee, I forgot that," I mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich, Enar sliding around my shoulders. I finished off my sandwich and plopped down on the sofa, figuring my room wasn't magically fixed in the time where I was gone. As I switched on the TV to watch whatever was on, I heard the rest of the team come back in, speaking animatedly.

"Hey Lori, we missed you," Natasha said.

"It's good to see you again," Bucky said, his arm draped across Steve's shoulder. I could see a sparkle in Steve's eyes I hadn't seen much before.

As Steve, Bucky and Natasha cleared to the side, I saw Clint. The relief plastered across his face seeing me in front of him was obvious. As I made eye contact, he moved towards me, arms stretched out in anticipation of an embrace. I hugged him quickly, feeling his warmth spread across me.

"Can we talk?" I whispered.

He nodded quickly, took my hand and we went to his room since mine was wrecked. He placed his hand on the sensor and the door slid open. I had been in his room a few times and have come accustomed to the smell of Clint, which consisted of a faint smell of sandalwood, campfires and a hint of vanilla. I inhaled it briefly before Clint took my hand again, sitting me down on the sofa in his personal living room. 

"Please tell me what happened, I want to help you through it," Clint said, taking my hands in his own.

I sighed heavily, feeling emotional again. "It's really hard to speak about it, but it's your right to know. I don't want to keep it within myself any longer."

Clint squeezed my hand in reassurance, I felt like he knew my struggle and I smiled briefly.

"It started when you were sent off to find Loki. I was waiting around and you suddenly walked in." 

I saw the confusion in Clint's face.

"Let me finish, you'll understand then. Basically, you walked in, obviously, I thought it was you and you know perfectly well how hands-on we can get. We went back to my bedroom, I don't need to explain what happened because you know what will have happened. Shortly after finishing, the person I was in bed with changed. Loki had used me. That's why I got so destructive, he had violated me. I'm sorry you had to hear it, I feel absolutely disgusted. When I escaped, Thor found me and we went to Asgard, where his mother found out Loki had poisoned me. The poison was strange, it connected a bond to me, that's why I have Enar here." I signalled to the snake curled around my neck.

Clint breathed in heavily, I could see some discomfort at the news.

"I'm sorry to hear that. It must feel horrible, being used. We're sorry we didn't listen to your warnings." Clint stroked my hand.

I smiled weakly. "It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. I still love you."

Clint smiled at my comment and space closed between us before we kissed again.

 

 

Dinner was nice, Steve cooked us all spaghetti and meatballs, all hand-made. I had two generous servings as my energy was so depleted from earlier.

"Thanks for cooking, Steve, this is so good," I mumbled through another mouthful.

We all finished dinner and moved onto the roof, where Natasha was looking slightly sneaky. The seating arrangements ended up like this; we sat in the rough circle, around the circle clockwise, from my left, was Natasha, Bucky, Steve, Bruce, Tony, Thor and Clint. Natasha placed a bottle in the centre and pulled out a sheet of paper. 

"We need some more fun, so this is spin the bottle combined with dares. The dare will involve whoever the bottle points to when you spin it. If you forfeit, you've gotta take a piece of clothing off. I'll start." She piped, spinning the bottle. 

The bottle pointed to Bruce, who looked nervous. She read the first dare.

"Sit on the lap of the other player until your next go. Ok, get ready Brucey." 

Natasha sprung up and placed herself on Bruce's lap. I could see a faint blush creep across his face before he recollected himself.

"Bucky, you're next!" Natasha exclaimed, Bucky spinning the bottle. It skidded to a halt in front of Steve and Bucky picked up the piece of paper, sighing when he saw the dare. 

"Urgh, make out with the other person." Bucky checked what he was wearing, seeing he was only wearing a t-shirt and jeans, sighing again.

I'm pretty sure I was the only one who heard Steve whisper, but I audibly heard him say "With or without that shirt on, I'm making out". I spluttered when I heard it and looked did a double-take at Bucky and Steve, who were now passionately making out.

"Wow, you'd almost think you two were dating," Tony stated.

Bucky and Steve broke their kiss and looked over to Tony in response.

"Guess we've gotta tell you something then."

Tony's jaw dropped. "Let me have another drink."

Steve and Bucky smiled to each other, Bucky's arm wrapped tightly around Steve's waist.

"So you two are actually a thing?" I asked inquisitively.

"Uh, yep. Well, we have for a while, we didn't know how to tell you all."

I smiled at their confession. "I'm glad you two are happy together, albeit the bad circumstances."

"Next spin!" Natasha interrupted and Steve quickly spun the bottle.

The bottle landed in front of Thor, who looked a bit oblivious. Steve read the dare quickly, immediately reaching to take off the shirt he was wearing.

"I am not doing that," He muttered.

Bruce spun the bottle, struggling to reach it under Natasha's body on his lap. It landed on Clint.

"You and the other person swap shirts for the rest of the game."

Clint and Bruce pull off their shirts, relieved to find out their sizes aren't too far apart.

"Guess that's me now," Tony moaned as he spun the bottle, which pointed to me.

"Take a shot from the other person's mouth."

Tony pulled out a shot glass and filled it with scotch before handing it to me. I tilted my head back, placed it in my mouth, Tony moving over to me. Our lips briefly touched as I tilted my head to pour the shot into his mouth. Tony sat back down and Thor reached for the bottle. He spun it a little too hard and it spun for a while before stopping in front of me.

"Let the other person apply lipstick on you."

I grinned excitedly as Natasha handed me a red lipstick.

"Pucker up, Thor."

I deliberately applied it badly, his face covered in an unappealing red smear. 

I realised that it was my turn to spin the bottle and spun it as my excitement for smearing lipstick across Thor's face died down. To my relief, it stopped in front of Clint. I picked up the piece of paper and read the next dare.

"Ten minutes in the closet."

I smirked and Clint and I moved to the storage closet on the roof.

"Once the time is up, I'm kicking that door open!" Tony piped up. 

We walked into the closet, a small lightbulb flickering on the ceiling and a few buckets sitting in the corner. I spotted a single chair shoved up to the wall and immediately rushed for it, slamming the door behind us. Clint frowned teasingly and sat on my lap. I grunted as I felt his weight.

"You're heavy," I whined.

"Then sit on my lap."

He stood up and let me get up before sitting down, pulling me onto his lap.

"Let's use these ten minutes wisely then."

 

 

 

 


End file.
